"30 Days of Cookies" Guest Post!

This month, the talented Melissa over at Design Eat Repeat has been running a 30 Days of Cookies feature. I can't even imagine the organization and time that would take, but she was kind enough to offer me a guest post for my decorated sugar cookies! Not only does she have a great name (heh) but she has some great recipes with beautiful design and photography, so make sure you go take a look!

 

Perfect Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing

Serves: 16-20 cookies

 

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 1 cup butter, cut into chunks and softened for about half an hour at room temperature (or if you’re impatient like me, in the microwave for three 5-second intervals)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 3 cups cake flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Icing:

• 2 egg whites
• 4 cups icing (powdered) sugar

Instructions

Cookies:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until they are white and fluffy.
2. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Combine flour and salt with a whisk, and add to mixer at low speed. I like to throw a dish towel over the bowl and turn the mixer up for a minute to ensure that everything is combined nicely.
4. Remove dough from mixer and paddle, and place on a piece of saran wrap on the counter. Pat the dough out to 2-3” thick, wrap, and chill in the fridge for 45 minutes.
5. Unwrap chilled dough, place between two sheets of parchment paper, and roll out to ¼ inch thick. Place in fridge, still in between the parchment paper, for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 325 F.
7. Remove chilled sheet of dough, take off top piece of parchment, and cut out desired shapes with a greased cookie cutter. Use a greased spatula to transfer cut shapes to cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
8. Freeze trays of cut shapes for 20 minutes.
9. Place frozen tray in the center of the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Cookies should look just barely golden on the edges.
10. After five minutes transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

To Make Icing:

1. Place ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Mix slowly for a minute or two to combine, then on high for 5-7 minutes until the mixture is forms stiff peaks.
2. Divide mixture into smaller bowls, depending on how many colors you will be using. I like to use concentrated gel colors, as they don’t water down your icing and give really vibrant color.

Notes

TO DECORATE: Using the thick icing mixture in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, pipe around the edges of your cookie. Lift the bag away from the cookie as you pipe to get neater lines, and make sure your borders connect- otherwise the icing flow will spill down the edges of your cookie! In a bowl, mix some thick icing with water, half a teaspoon at a time, until it is runny and drips off a spoon easily. Think the consistency of liquid whipping cream- that’s what you’re looking for. Use a teaspoon to carefully spoon a little of the runny icing onto the cookies. I use the back of the spoon to push it to the edges of the border, and a toothpick to push icing into small areas and to fix air bubbles. I like to dry the cookies for several hours before I attempt to stack them or put them in bags- if you’re making them with kids though, they probably won’t last that long!