3 Ingredient Almond Glaze Recipe

This quick and easy almond glaze recipe is perfect for dressing up cookies, cakes, and quick breads of all kinds and will elevate your favourite recipes into something worthy of showing off.

It’s amazing how a little bit of a topping of some kind can take a fairly basic recipe and make it seem so much fancier. It’s like it suddenly appears that whatever you’ve baked took three times as long and took so much more skill to create, even if you only spent a few seconds sprinkling some easy streusel topping on a loaf or dusting a cake with a bit of icing sugar. Every home baker armed with a basic pantry full of all purpose flour and granulated sugar needs a recipe like this in their bag of tricks to make their baking a little more enticing.  A drizzle is particularly eye-catching with its zig-zag-y lines and promise of a little extra hit of sweetness. This almond glaze recipe is a favourite of mine because it’s so quick to whip up and the almond flavour works so beautifully to elevate so many other flavours into something really special and a bit unexpected.

Read next: Cardamom Fig Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients Needed to Make the Almond Glaze

It really is as simple as just mixing together three ingredients. You’ll need:

• Powdered confectioner’s sugar
• Almond milk or other milk of your choice, dairy or non-dairy
• Almond extract

It’s so fun how three very simple components can come together to create something so tasty and useful. You may already have these ingredients waiting for you in your pantry left over from other recipes that you’ve made.

Try it with: 3 Ingredient Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe With Cake Mix

Method for Preparing the Glaze

First, add the powdered confectioners sugar to a small bowl or measuring cup. Add the almond flavor, then slowly add the milk, a tablespoon at a time, stirring and beating as you go with a spoon or a whisk. When the first amount of milk is fully incorporated into the powdered sugar in a smooth, mixture with no lumps, check for consistency by lifting a small amount of the glaze up and drizzling it back down.

When it comes to consistency, a little bit of a thicker mixture will results in better visual results because the lines of glazing on your baked goods will spread less and maintain their shape a little better.

If your glaze seems a bit too thick, add about a teaspoon more of the milk, make sure the mixture is well whipped, then test it again. A small amount of liquid makes a big difference when it comes to glaze thickness. When you think you’ve reached a good consistency that will be easy to work with, you’re ready to glaze your baked goods.

See also: Easy Homemade Pancake Syrup for When You Run Out

Drizzling Almond Glaze on Baked Goods

If you’re working with cookies or any kind of cake that has been removed from its baking dish, place them on a wire rack with a layer of waxed paper or parchment paper underneath to catch excess glaze drips.

Using a teaspoon, scoop up a small amount of glaze and slowly move your had back and forth evenly over each cookie or the cakes, allowing a small amount of glaze to fall out in a steady stream. It may take a bit of practice to get it just right, but you’ll get the hang of it and you’ll soon figure out a glazing pattern that looks just right to you. A bit of pooling here and there is just fine and will make your baking look deliciously homemade, so don’t get too caught up in worrying about things looking perfect.

Use a rubber spatula to scrape every last bit of glazing out of your bowl and use it all up. When you’ve finished with the glaze, let it cool completely on your baked goods so it becomes fully set.

More baking topping and frosting inspiration for your kitchen: Easy Microwave Chocolate Glaze With Cocoa Powder

Ideas for Using the Glaze

This almond glaze pairs well with so many fruit flavors, or if you’d use like to elevate more basic recipes for cookies, vanilla cakes, and blueberry muffins and turn them into something a little more bakery worthy and a little more indulgent. Thumbprint cookies with a strawberry or raspberry jam are delicious with a drizzle of glaze, as well as a basic pound cake recipe, coffee cake,  3 ingredient banana bread, double chocolate chip cookies, or brownies.

For a yummy variation, you can substitute lemon extract for the almond, to give the glaze a lemon flavor and use it on lemon cake or to decorate lemon shortbread cookies. You can even add a little food coloring if you’re baking for a special holiday or event and want to make anything you bake more festive.

Here’s the full printable recipe card.