The Great Big Wonder

Christmas time is here, which means it’s time for cookies, gift-giving, and gathering with friends. For an annual cookie exchange party this year, I decided to make classic sugar cookies perfect for decorating. There’s something so fulfilling about getting the family together and decorating cookies, covering your fingers in icing, and taking sneaky bites of cookies as you listen to Christmas music.

This festive cookie recipe takes little effort to execute. With only seven ingredients, it’s a quick recipe, the hardest part is waiting for the dough to chill. To make it even easier, we used store-bought royal icing because making icing is an absolute pain. Read on to find the recipe and decorating tips!

The details:

Makes 24 cookies.
Prep: 20 minutes
Chill: 1-2 hours
Bake: about 13 minutes

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour (King Arthur)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 brown eggs (or 1 large white egg)
2 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract

Frosting:
Alton Brown’s Royal Icing or Wilton’s Cookie Icing.

Materials Needed: Cookie Cutters, Two Bowls, Measuring spoons, measuring cups, hand mixer or stand mixer, parchment paper/Silpat (I prefer using Silpat mats), cooling rack, cookie sheets, sprinkles, and frosting

Directions

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer combine butter and sugar together on medium speed using the paddle attachment. Mix until creamy and smooth. Then add the eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. If the dough is too wet add a tablespoon of four at a time until you have a smooth rolling dough. If the dough is too dry add a tablespoon of milk until the consistency is right. Try not to overwork the dough.
4. Divide the dough into two parts and roll each out onto parchment paper or a Silpat. Place in the fridge for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
5. Once the dough has cooled preheat the oven to 350 and use cookie cutters to create your desired shapes. Place cookies on baking sheets covered in parchment and bake for 13 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are slightly golden.
6. Slide the cookies on the parchment paper onto cooling racks and let them cool for 40 minutes. Wait until the cookies are completely cooled to decorate.
   

Tips & Tricks:

When cutting the cookies, gently squeeze the cutter as you pull up from the dough, this should keep the cookie in the cutter so you can easily transport it to your baking sheet without compromising the shape.

If the cookies get too difficult to move chill the dough again and they should be easier to transport. Don’t use a spatula as it can ruin the shape of the cookies.

When decorating keep the nozzle of the icing bag close to the cookie, this offers more control. Keep the icing layers thin to promote faster drying and more concise designs.

Use icing to create a border around the cookie or to make the design you want then fill in the border by “flooding” the cookie with frosting and using a toothpick to remove bubbles and smooth out the icing. The thicker your frosting is the longer it will take to cool. Here is a good video that shows you how to do it: How to flood a cookie with Royal Icing.

Updated 12/28/2022