Day 29: Iced Sugar Cookies

Remember those jam swirls I made two weeks ago? Remember how I madesome extra cookie dough to use as a base for another recipe?

Well, this wasn't the intended recipe, but it did use the rest of that dough!

After kibitzing about icing this entire time, I thought I was due to makethe icing a focus of one recipe. as most Americans do like supah sweet items (...like icing),I thought it was due time. Even though the sugar cookie is the same, as required by this quest, the icing is one I've never made before: royal icing. 

It's quite majestic.

See what I did there?

Since the sugar cookie is the same, the process is just copy and pasted, with a few tweaks in the baking time.

The Sugar Cookie

The Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 sticks butter, room temp.
• 1 ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp whole milk

The recipe actually calls for a tablespoon of heavy cream, but heavy cream does not exist in my fridge. Since it was such a small amount, I figured that just using whole milk would work just fine. (I was right.)

I actually ended up doubling this recipe, as it freezes really well; the recipe I made today actually used the frozen dough, and it tasted just like the first time! The ingredients shown above show the amounts for one batch, but my pictures show the amounts for two, so don't be thrown off.

The Process

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Use an electric mixer, and beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, like freshly fallen snow.
Switch the speed to low, and add the egg and vanilla. Mix until just combined.
Slowly add the flour mixture, then milk.
And scrape down dem sides as needed! And I assure you, it will be needed at least a couple of times. No skimpin' out on me now!

This is what your dough should look like.

Lay out some plastic wrap, and squish the dough into a rectangle on top. Cover the dough with the seran wrap and store it in the refrigerator until firm, at least an hour and up to overnight, or freeze it and thaw it right before you want to bake it!

Roll the dough to ~1/4" on a floured surface using a floured rolling pin, then cut it into all sorts of fun shapes usinga paring knife or cookie cutters (duh).

Place the cookies about an inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. The original recipe says to bake for 16-19 minutes at 350F. However, I found 14-15 minutes to be perfect using convection at 325F. Just bake until the edges are slightly golden-brown. Let cool completely on wire racks before icing.

The Icing

Ingredients

1 large egg white

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

The Process

Beat the egg using an electric mixer.

Add the dry ingredients, then beat on high until ribbons/ridges form when the icing is drizzled on itself. This should takeabout 5-7 minutes.

This is what your icing should look like.

To decorate, separate the icing into small ziploc bags, then dye it. Cut off the corner, then decorate away! This process allows for really detailed piping, without requiring fancy materials. To smooth out larger areas, use a clean butter knife.

If you're icing hardens while using it, just mix it up again.

The Finished Product

The Final Verdict

The sugar cookie itself is pretty good; crispy, but not per se crunchy. The icing isa bit sweet for me (no surprise), but it decorates and hardens nicely! Plus it makes the cookies pretty stinkin' cute, heehee~.

Both recipes perform as intended. For those who don't like a ton of sugar, beware: these are both quite sugary combinations. Consider reducing the amount of sugar in the cookie dough if you want to ice them.