Sugar cookies with painted icing

Votes: 4

How to Make - Sugar Cookies with Decorated Icing

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Complexity: average
Quantity: 24 - 36 cookies

During the winter holidays, especially, homemade cookies are baked and eaten in abundance. One of the most popular types is sugar cookies. These cookies are quick to make with readily available ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and baking powder. They can be cut into a variety of shapes, and they're perfect for decorating with royal icing, a fun activity for the whole family. Children especially love decorating their own cookies. At the end of the cookie recipe, you'll find a recipe for royal icing and how to apply it. Tint the icing in traditional Christmas colors and let your imagination run wild.

The recipes use measuring containers with the following volumes:
1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Ingredients for the recipe:

2.5 cups cake flour (not self-rising) + extra for work
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
220 g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Royal icing, for decorating (see recipe)

Ingredient Substitution Suggestions

We recommend

Recipes with similar ingredients: cake flour, egg powder, powdered sugar, eggs

Cooking the dish according to the recipe:

Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt on a sheet of parchment paper or in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture in two additions.
Divide the dough in half and divide it between two pieces of plastic wrap; form into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. The dough can also be frozen for up to 1 month; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll it out on a floured work surface, dusting with flour as needed, until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Using 2- to 4-inch cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the dough; place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. If the dough becomes too soft while working, return it to the refrigerator to firm up again. Gather the scraps and refrigerate; then roll out again to cut out more cookies. Refrigerate the shapes for 30 minutes.
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the cookies are slightly puffed and golden brown, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.
Basic royal icing

In a large bowl, whisk together 450 g of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of dry egg whites. Add 5 tablespoons of water and beat with a mixer on medium speed until soft, glossy peaks form, adding an additional 1 tablespoon of water if necessary. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and plastic wrap until ready to use to prevent the glaze from drying out.
Exit: about 2 and 1/4 cups
Cover the cookies completely with royal icing

Transfer about 0.5 cups of royal icing to a resealable plastic bag and snip off a small corner. Pipe a thin border around the edges of each cookie. Let sit for a few minutes. Thin the remaining icing with a few drops of water until it reaches the consistency of syrup.

Place half the liquid icing in a zip-lock plastic bag and tint the remaining portion with red and/or green gel food coloring. Transfer the colored icing to the bags. Snip off the corner of the bag with the white icing and pipe it inside the border, completely covering the cookies.

Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread the icing to coat the cookies. Decorate the cookies with colored icing before the white icing sets. Let the cookies set at room temperature for at least 1 hour.