Cookie Research! The Quest for the Best Meringue Powder

Hey Besties! The science lab has been busy lately and I can’t wait any longer to share the results! One of questions I receive the most is, “What is the best meringue powder?” Or “Are all meringue powders the same?” And I can tell you that meringue powders are NOT all created equal, and it absolutely makes a difference in what you use. Which is the best meringue powder can vary by cookier, based on what’s most important to them. I’m here doing the legwork and investment into the time and testing to share these results across many different categories so YOU can decide what’s best for you! And since I love science and research, cookie research is my happy place. Honestly, I was SHOCKED by the results of this testing. It made me question a lot of things and I’ll share those takeaways with you as well. Buckle up, I’m thorough in my research!

I want to start this off by saying that this is not a sponsored post of any kind. I spent my own hard-earned money to purchase these different meringue powders to conduct this testing. And as always, I share my honest feedback with the utmost integrity. I am here to help fellow home bakers make their baking and decorating journeys easier, better and more joyful. And I take that responsibility seriously, so want you to know none of these brands have paid me or influenced these results in any way.

The meringue powder showdown

Let me catch you up on how we’ve gotten here. Two years ago, I did my first showdown comparing Wilton and Genie’s Dream meringue powders. At that time, these were the two most popular meringue powders being used by cookie decorators. Since then, additional brands have hit the market, some have reformulated, and supply issues have rocked the royal icing world. So after receiving MANY requests for an expanded showdown, here we are! If you’d like to see the results from the original GD & Wilton showdown, you can find that HERE.

Our expanded meringue powder contenders

Entering the ring today, we have Genie’s Dream, Chefmaster and Judee’s meringue powders! Full transparency, Genie’s Dream was the overwhelming winner of the last showdown and what my daughter and I currently use for all our royal icing. However, GD has experienced some production pauses this year due to supply chain issues with securing their premium ingredients. Many of you have reached out seeking guidance on alternative brands that we love, so here we are.

Some quick background on these brands!

Genie’s Dream (GD) is very popular in the cookie decorating world, known for great puff, color saturation and flavor. Chefmaster is kind of a quiet tiger in the woods…you don’t hear much about it, but some cookiers like it, so worth seeing how it measures up! And finally, Judee’s has become increasingly popular over the last couple years with many cookiers swearing by it.

A word about Judee’s…this product is labeled as “Judee’s Complete Meringue Powder Mix”, which threw me and many others for a loop. We’re used to simply using meringue powder, so I wasn’t sure if this was equivalent. They also sell a “Royal Icing Mix” but I knew that was not what I wanted but may be appealing for some. The Royal Icing Mix is meant to simply be added with water to make royal icing. Judee’s Complete Meringue Powder Mix is what we’re looking for to make our own icing. In my opinion, their labeling could be clearer, so I wanted to point out that distinction.

A level playing field

To ensure I was able to compare apples to apples and isolate the different variables we’re testing, the same royal icing recipe was used to make each batch, which you can find HERE. This is the recipe and method I use to make all my royal icing every day for beautiful results.

I also used Hobby Lobby gel coloring for all batches of icing. So yes, I had 3 separate batches of royal icing made using each of our contenders. Let’s not talk about how confusing that can get if not properly labeled…all in the name of research.

To make each color, I used 3/4 cup of royal icing with the exact same amount of gel coloring for each brand’s icing. This way, I knew we’d be able to accurately compare the color results with controlled amounts of icing and coloring.

I also made each set of icing the same consistency. So, all variables were the same and any differences would be due to the different brands of meringue.

Throughout the experiment, I treated all cookies the same. I made 3 cookies of the same designs, in different colors, for each brand. I intentionally created these designs to showcase colors, shapes and volume of the design elements. The paw print design is an excellent choice to showcase puff, so that is what I used for today’s showdown!

I did each decorating step at the same time and each cookie spent the same amount of time in the dehydrator in between decorating steps, so all results could be attributed to the different meringue powders.

Our contenders are being judged on 6 different categories today! Price, Scent, Texture, Color Saturation, Shine and Flavor. Let’s go! And our judges for all results include me and 5 other individuals who were asked to assess each category. They were completely blind to which brands they were reviewing for each sample and category.

Making our royal icing

I made this video for you to see how the royal icing was made and what each batch looked like once freshly made. Worth noting is that both the GD and Chefmaster were about the same consistency after 5 minutes of mixing. Medium/stiff peaks and the spatula stands up on its own in the middle of the bowl. The Chefmaster icing did feel a little denser though. The Judee’s batch needed a minute longer and was still a bit thinner than the others once fully mixed. Next time I use Judee’s I’ll probably use a little less water since it seemed more sensitive to that. You can find the royal icing-making video HERE or by clicking the image below.

Alright, icing is made! Let’s look at each category!

Meringue powder pricing

Let’s review some quick pricing facts of these brands to start! These prices are current at the time of this writing.

Genie’s Dream: I usually order mine off of Amazon. Due to the production issues mentioned above, it remains unavailable on Amazon at the time of this writing. But they expect to have it available again late June/early July 2025. Genie-lovers rejoice! This meringue powder is usually $26-$27 ($1.65/oz) when purchased in 1 lb bags. There is a pretty significant cost savings when purchasing in 5 lbs ($1.29/oz) or 10 lbs ($1.09/oz) bags. Note: Genie’s has indicated that pricing may change once it is available again due to ingredient costs.

Chefmaster: Coming in at $1.50/oz when purchased in a 1 lb bag, Chefmaster is just slighter cheaper than GD. And price goes down to $1.40/oz when purchased in a 5 lbs bag, which then makes it more expensive compared to GD’s 5 lbs pricing.

Judee’s: Coming in at $1.31/oz when purchased in the 11.4 oz bag. Price goes down to $1.33/oz when bought in the 24-ounce bag. And finally, price goes down to $0.66/oz when purchased in a 10 lbs bag.

WINNER: Judee’s definitely takes the winning spot for pricing, especially if you go with that 10 lbs bag! Wow, that’s a fabulous deal!

Meringue Powder scent

Since these are consumables, scent is an important factor.

Genie’s Dream: Bestie, it smells heavenly, I can’t deny it. A vanilla-marshmallow scent if I had to describe it.

Chefmaster: It’s not good, Bestie. The smell is strong and quite offensive. Definitely not something I would ever want to try based on scent.

Judee’s: A very light scent. It’s a nice scent, but not very strong at all.

WINNER: Genie’s Dream definitely wins for scent; no question.

Color saturation

You should see this for yourself, Bestie. I was SHOCKED at the differences here. All beautiful cookies, but there are some notable differences!

Genie’s Dream: I was really surprised at the streaky coloring in the lighter purple cookie. It was noticeable in the brighter purple cookie as well, but not as distinct. I even made sure my decorating bags had not settled at all, but these were the first cookies I decorated with my freshly made icing. I iced some additional cookies but that streaking was still visible in the lighter purple cookie. For what it’s worth, I have not noticed that level of streakiness previously.

Chefmaster: Color saturation was even but almost looked a little chalky.

Judee’s: The color saturation here blew my mind! These were bold, vivid and very evenly colored.

WINNER: Judee’s takes the winner here, no question. The colors were distinctly bolder and more beautiful! Over time, you’d likely use less coloring when using Judee’s meringue powder since the color saturation is so strong.

Texture

We’re talking mouth feel here, Bestie, when cookies were sampled!

Genie’s Dream: I was shocked that Genie’s was crumblier that the others. It was still a great texture, but when compared to the others, it did have the driest texture.

Chefmaster: Taste testers agreed Chefmaster had the smoothest bite!

Judee’s: Basically in between the other two. A very nice, smooth texture, giving Chefmaster a run for it’s money!

WINNER: Chefmaster pulls out a win for icing texture!

Shine

It’s worth noting that I ALWAYS use a dehydrator to quick set my icing which gives a significantly better sheen and polished finish to my royal icing. Air drying will always be much more matte and can be a more porous finish.

Genie’s Dream: A lovely sheen and smooth, polished finish!

Chefmaster: Not bad, still better than our results with Wilton, but definitely more matte than the other two brands. Felt a little chalkier to the touch as well.

Judee’s: Also a very nice sheen and polished finish!

WINNER: I’m giving a tie to GD and Judee’s on this category. They both had great sheen and polished surface. Ideal for writing on with edible markers or any other details.

Flavor

I’ve always said, it’s not good enough to have a pretty cookie, it needs to taste even better than it looks. So for all the time and energy we put into comparing aesthetic results, this category is really important.

Genie’s Dream: Once again, I was SHOCKED at the blind taste test results here. Testers reported a slightly chalky flavor and were underwhelmed by the flavor.

Chefmaster: This icing had the most unique flavor, but not really in a good way. While they loved the mouth feel texture of the icing, the flavor was just different. Almost too sweet or tangy?

Judee’s: A really nice vanilla flavor without being too sweet. This was the favorite in the bunch!

WINNER: Judee’s is our winner in the flavor category! Yet another shocker for me. Like I said earlier, we currently use Genie’s Dream and our customers love our cookies.

Additional takeaways

While not officially categories that we assessed today, I wanted to mention a couple other takeaways. First, there was no color bleed with any of these meringue powders. Since color bleed has more to do with HOW your icing is made, I was not expecting to see any and this held true. I haven’t experienced color bleed in years, seriously. If color bleed is something you’re encountering, THIS post goes more in-depth on this topic.

I also want to point out that I experienced beautiful PUFF with all three brands of icing. When the icing was wet, you could hardly even tell the cookies apart. They were all beautiful and puffy! Again, beautiful puff comes from HOW your icing is made.

Best Meringue powder: Final results

I never anticipated the results that came from my latest meringue powder showdown! And let’s be honest, there are no real losers here. All three of these are premium meringue powders that produce great results! That said, Judee’s was the clear winner sweeping critical categories: pricing, flavor, color saturation and tying with GD in the shine category. We have been using Genie’s Dream for years with beautiful and delicious results! And since we have several more pounds of it, we’ll be continuing with it for the foreseeable future!

On that note, it’s also worth mentioning that Ginny, of Genie’s Dream, provides excellent customer service to all customers, which is another important factor. In a time when customer service is dying, Ginny stands out, which is commendable.

Was this helpful?

I sure hope all this research and testing on our quest to identify the best meringue powder was helpful for you! It was fascinating and not at all what I expected! I’d love to hear more about your experiences in our community HERE! Thousands of Besties hang out there to help, support and celebrate each other and our bakes!

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