Friday, December 26, 2014

Christmas Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing and Colored Sugar

It took me several tries to get this recipe exactly how I wanted it but I finally got it!  These sugar cookies are slightly crisp, buttery and delicious.  They are good just by themselves or decorated with Royal Icing. Here's how to make them:





What you'll need:


1 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
Sugar
Food coloring



For the colored sugar:

In separate bowls, add a few tablespoons of sugar and mix with food coloring until you achieve the color you want.  Mix well and let dry.


For the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and powdered sugar.  Beat on medium speed until well mixed.

Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each one.

Add the vanilla and salt, stir, then slowly add in the flour.

Dust your workspace with plenty of flour then pour out the batter.  Dust the top of it with some flour so things don't stick.  

Have some nonstick baking sheets ready.  Using a rolling pin, or even a wine bottle, roll the dough out until it's 1/4 inch thick.

Using your favorite cookie cutters, cut out as many shapes as you can and lay on the baking sheets.  When you've gotten as many shapes as you can, ball up the dough and roll it out one more time, cutting out more shapes.  Discard the leftover dough this time around.

Before baking, place the sheets of cookies in the refrigerator.  You want the butter in the dough to be really cold when it goes into the oven.  After 10 or 15 minutes, bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes until very slightly browned.

Let cool completely.  At this point you can put the cookies into Ziploc bags and freeze until you're ready to decorate.

Decorate with Royal Icing however you'd like.  If you're using colored sugar, sprinkle some on while the icing is still wet and let dry or sprinkle on before you bake the cookies.



 


 

 


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