I have been infatuated with decorated
sugar cookies for as long as I can remember, especially with the increase of
the foodie how to videos that have fast become an adult version of a bedtime
story before I fall asleep for the night. Over the years I’ve collected all of
the necessary supplies, but I’ve never actually sat down and worked with royal
icing before. I mentioned to Sarah that
I had been making the dough and cutting out cookies in hopes to decorate them
this week, and before we finished our conversation she already had a dough of
her own happening in her kitchen. We
decided to combine forces and the next night her son and daughter in law
stopped by we all listened to Christmas music and decorated sugar cookies until
late into the night. We had so much fun;
both of us are already planning our next batch for tomorrow.
For the cookies, we adapted
this recipe from The Pioneer Woman:
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2/3 cup shortening
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ tsp grated lemon
zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
bean paste (or extract)
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 cups flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking
powder
- 1 ½ tsp salt
Royal Icing
- 3 tbsp meringue
powder
- 4 cups sifted icing
sugar
- 5 tbsp water
Directions
Cream together
shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
Stir in lemon peel, and vanilla.
Beat egg, and add mixture. Stir
in the milk and mix thoroughly.
Sift flour, baking
powder, and salt together, then add to cream mixture mixing until well blended.
Divide dough in half,
and shape into disks. Wrap with plastic
wrap, then refrigerate for a minimum of 1-2 hours, overnight if possible.
Once dough has been
chilled, roll out onto a lightly floured surface to approximately ¼ inch thick
and cut into shapes using your favourite cookie cutters. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment
paper and bake at 375 for approximately 6 minutes, being sure that cookies
don’t brown. For best results, allow
cookies to cool and harden 1-2 hours (or overnight) before decorating.
For icing:
Whip ingredients
together in a stand mixer set to medium speed for 7-10 minutes, or until stiff
peaks form and the icing loses its glossy sheen. If using a hand mixer, increase whipping time
to 10-12 minutes.
This icing is now
ready for edging consistency. Add
food coloring to the icing, then split 1/4 of the icing into a piping bag or
squeeze bottle with a small round writing tip (Wilton Tip 1 or 2).
For flooding constancy, add water to
remaining icing ¼ tsp at a time until you have what’s called a 5 second icing. This means that the icing will easily run off
the spoon and lay smoothly back in the bowl after 5 seconds. Youtube is your friend here. Add icing to a squeeze bottle (or piping bag
if you don’t have a squeeze bottle) fitted with a larger round tip (the size
will be dependent on a number of factors, though I used a Wilton Tip 3 for ours).
Use the edging icing
to create an outline around the edges of your cookies to help contain the
flooding icing. Once the edging has
set, flood the cookie with the flooding icing, using a toothpick to spread the
icing to the edges. Use a different coloured flood icing to create designs (it
will dry completely flat). Allow cookies
to dry for 1-2 hours (or overnight).
Enjoy!
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