I plan to give away personally decorated cookies this coming December instead the usual fruit cake. I saw a simple recipe of sugar cookies in JoyofBaking and tried it last Friday. It's only now that I have the chance to decorate them. Good thing there are still 6 pieces left to practice on. : )
Ingredients: heavily adapted from JoyofBaking
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking. Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you can sprinkle the unbaked cookies with sparkling sugar.
Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes (depending on size) or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing, if desired. Be sure to let the royal icing dry completely before storing. (This may take several hours or overnight.)
Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper.
Here are my baked sugar cookies in star design.
Royal Icing:
I did not follow specific recipe for the royal icing since I'll just be decorating 6 cookies.
Knowing the basic ingredients for the icing, I mixed small amounts of meringue powder, vanilla extract, almond extract and a teaspoon of water then added gradually icing sugar. I stopped adding sugar when the icing reached the consistency that I wanted.
Decorating:
Three fourths of the icing I poured in a smallest size ziplock bag. I added blue food color in the remaining one fourth icing before pouring it in another ziplock bag.
I cut one corner in each ziplock bags to make a small whole and started decorating the cookies.
Enjoy!
- 3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking. Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you can sprinkle the unbaked cookies with sparkling sugar.
Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes (depending on size) or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing, if desired. Be sure to let the royal icing dry completely before storing. (This may take several hours or overnight.)
Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper.
Royal Icing:
I did not follow specific recipe for the royal icing since I'll just be decorating 6 cookies.
Knowing the basic ingredients for the icing, I mixed small amounts of meringue powder, vanilla extract, almond extract and a teaspoon of water then added gradually icing sugar. I stopped adding sugar when the icing reached the consistency that I wanted.
Decorating:
Three fourths of the icing I poured in a smallest size ziplock bag. I added blue food color in the remaining one fourth icing before pouring it in another ziplock bag.
I cut one corner in each ziplock bags to make a small whole and started decorating the cookies.
Enjoy!
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