St. Patrick’s Day Sugar Cookies

These cookies are a fantastic dessert and are sure to impress your audience. These sugar cookies are fantastic and they are my go-to recipe whenever I need a great cutout cookie. The cookies have a fantastic blend of vanilla and almond flavoring.

I’ve used Royal Icing to decorate the tops of the cookies. I’ve posted a step by step tutorial here on the blog that you can follow if you are new to Royal Icing. I’ve also covered the tops of some of these cookies with glitter dust in order to give them a special look.

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Sugar Cookies:1 Cup Butter1 Cup Powdered Sugar1 Egg1 ½ Teaspoons Almond Extract1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract1 Teaspoon Salt2 ½ Cups Flour

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.Blend in the egg, salt and extracts.

Beat in flour. Mix until completely combined.

Chill dough for at least 1 hour until firm.

Taking one half of the dough ball at a time roll the dough to a 1/4” thickness on a lightly floured surface.Cut with cookie cutters.

Place on a cookie sheet covered with a Silpat liner or a piece of parchment.Bake at 375 for approximately 7 minutes.Cookies should not brown.Let cool overnight before decorating.

Using a batch of Royal Icing decorate the cookies – here is a step by step how to.For these cookies I used Wilton Gel Icing colors Kelly Green, Ivory and Golden Yellow.

Once the icing has set on the cookies take a tablespoon of vanilla extract (you can also use vodka) and mix with Wilton pearl dust (I used Ivory).

Using a small (food only) paint brush mix the dust and extract then lightly brush onto the cookies. Let the cookies sit until dry.

How to: Royal Icing

This is pretty much the best way to decorate cutout cookies. The icing looks so professional and put together. If you’ve never done royal icing before it is actually pretty easy, just mostly time intensive.  Because all the ingredients for Royal Icing are gluten free you can use these on GF cutout cookies.List of what you’ll need:One batch of cutout cookiesOne batch of Royal IcingGel Food ColorsPiping bags fitted with connectors and tipsSqueeze bottlesAirtight containers (one for each color you will be using)SpoonsSpatulasToothpicks

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Royal Icing:4 Cups Powdered Sugar2 Tablespoons Merengue Powder5.5 Tablespoons Water

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until the icing has a matte finish. Separate the icing into air tight containers (divide into as many containers as colors you need).

Taking one container at a time, mix an additional tablespoon of water into the icing. This should be a good consistency for piping. If it still seems too thick mix additional water into the icing one half tablespoon at a time. Mix thoroughly before using.

Once you have the icing at a good piping consistency mix the colors into the icing. Using gel colors will get the best results. If you use liquid colors it can change the consistency of the icing and make it unusable. I am partial to the Wilton Gel Food Colors. You can easily mix these into the icing by using a knife to remove a bit of gel coloring from the tub and mixing thoroughly into the icing.

When your icing colors are prepared, take piping bags prepared with connectors and icing tips (I prefer to use a Wilton Circle #3 tip). Using a spatula spoon a good amount of the icing into the prepared piping bag. Squeeze the bag to remove excess air and move the icing down into the tip. Prepare each of the colors in separate icing bags. Cover the extra icing so it does not dry out.

Taking the prepared piping bags, pipe an outline around the entire cookie. Let the outline sit for at least an hour before moving onto the next step.  Once you have outlined all of the cookies take any extra icing out of the bags and put back into the airtight container.

When the outline has set, prepare the rest of your icing. Add approximately an additional two tablespoons of water the icing. The icing should fall off the back of a spoon in a smooth ribbon. If you happen to thin the icing too much you can add powdered sugar to thicken it up. Pour the prepared icing into squeeze bottle. Flood the area inside the outline with the thinned icing.

If the icing does not go all the way to the edges you can use a toothpick to move it around. You also can use the toothpick to pop any bubbles that might appear in the flooded icing. The goal is to have the icing be as smooth as possible. Let the icing dry overnight before serving the cookies.

You can use additional piping icing to decorate the tops of the cookies once the icing has set.

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Source: adapted from Annies-Eats

Twelve Days of Cookies: Gingerbread Men

I have tried several gingerbread recipes over the years. This is by far my favorite recipe. With the other recipes I have tried they have never truly turned out.  These cookies are deliciously spicy and are especially fantastic when decorated with royal icing. This year I didn’t really have time to add any icing to these, but I have done it in the past and they turn out amazing.

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Gingerbread Men:1 Cup Butter1 Cup Sugar1 Cup Molasses1 Egg4 Cups Flour1 Teaspoon Salt1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder½ Teaspoon Baking Soda½ Teaspoon Vanilla1 Teaspoon Cinnamon1 ½ Teaspoon Ground Cloves2 Teaspoons Ginger1 Teaspoon NutmegPreheat the oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy.Mix in molasses and egg until well combined.Add the vanilla, soda, powder and spices. Combine well.Add the flour and mix until incorporated.Cover the bowl and chill for at least one hour.Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to approximately a ¼ inch thickness.Cut into the desired shapes. Place cookies onto a prepared baking sheet.Bake for 10 minutes. Decorate as desired.