Our Heavenly Sugar Cookies feature royal icing, shimmering sprinkles, and hand-painted smiling faces.
Heavenly Sugar Cookies
MAKES ABOUT 24
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Royal Icing (recipe follows)
- Silver and white sugar pearls
- Gold star sprinkles
- 1 fine-tip black marker with edible ink
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar at low speed, slowly increasing to medium, until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Add egg and vanilla, beating until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until a dough forms. Scrape down sides of bowl, and knead 3 to 4 times to make sure well combined.
- Divide dough in half; cover one half with plastic wrap. On a heavily floured surface, roll remaining dough to ¼-inch thickness. (Lightly flour top of dough if it sticks to rolling pin.) Using a 3-inch crescent moon cookie cutter, a 3½-inch cloud cookie cutter, and a 3½-inch star cookie cutter, cut dough, rerolling scraps as necessary. Using a small of set spatula, place cookies at least 1 inch apart on prepared pans. Repeat with covered dough.
- Bake, one batch at a time, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes. Using a large of set or flat metal spatula, transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
- Dip cooled cookies facedown into Royal Icing; pull straight out, then lightly shake back and forth, letting excess icing drip off. Quickly flip cookies icing side up; using a wooden pick, spread icing into an even layer, removing any bubbles as needed. Using tweezers, place silver and white sugar pearls and gold star sprinkles into wet icing, as desired. Let stand for at least 4 hours or until icing is dry. Using edible marker, draw sleeping faces on cookies, if desired.*
Notes
*If Royal Icing is not completely set, the marker will break the icing surface. Test on one cookie first; if icing breaks, let dry another hour. Press very lightly with marker.
3.5.3251
Royal Icing
MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package confectioners’ sugar
- 2½ tablespoons meringue powder
- 8 to 10 tablespoons warm water, divided
- ½ tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- Black gel food coloring
- Yellow liquid food coloring
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder at low speed until combined. Slowly add 6 tablespoons warm water and vanilla, beating until smooth, about 1 minute. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat until stiff, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Divide icing into 3 bowls, about 1 cup into each bowl.
- For gray icing, dip a toothpick into black gel food coloring, pulling out about a rice grain size amount of color. Swirl toothpick into one bowl of icing. Stir together until a uniform color is reached.
- For yellow icing, add 4 drops of yellow liquid food coloring to second bowl of icing. Stir together until a uniform color is reached.
- Slowly add remaining water to bowls of icing by teaspoon amounts. The desired consistency is reached when a spatula is lifted out of the icing and it runs of in a steady stream.*
Notes
*If cookies are too hard to pull out of the icing or excess icing doesn’t drip of easily, then add more water. If there are a lot of bubbles on the surface of the cookies, then add more water.
3.5.3251
Discover seasonal recipes, inspiring style ideas, and more by ordering your Southern Lady print subscription and digital subscription today!
