Holiday Sugar Cookies

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Every year, I make Holiday Sugar Cookies and I bought some new cutters to add to my collection: melted snowmen, snow globe, angel, dress and house. I made wreaths, stockings, gingerbread boys and girls, reindeer, Santa's belly, Mrs. Claus' dress, snowy houses, angels, candy canes, trees, ornaments, snow globes, melted snowmen and snowmen. I used various sprinkles, nonpareils, sugar pearls, and sanding sugars for the cookie decorating. I worked on the cookies for two days and despite the unseasonably warm weather here in New York, I tried to stay in the Christmas spirit. I love cold weather, not this heat. Due to the heat, rain and humidity, the royal icing took extra time to dry. It rained for days and the kitchen was dark, but I managed to stay uplifted knowing the cookies were Christmas gifts for my family. Please go to my Jack Skellington Cookies post: (http://twofrys.blogspot.com/2015/10/jack-skellington-cookies.html) for the Vanilla Sugar Cookies recipe. Below I share the recipe for the Chocolate Sugar Cookies recipe and large batch Royal Icing recipe. Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Melted Snowmen, Snow Globe and Snowmen Cookies

Snow Globe Cookies

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
2 cups (4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened and each stick cut into 8 cubes

2 cups Granulated Sugar

2 Extra Large Eggs

3 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

4 cups All Purpose Flour

1 ½ cups Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

Melted Snowmen, oh oh...

Melted Snowmen, whoops...

Directions
Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt in large bowl and combine with spatula; put aside.

Cut each stick of butter into 8 cubes.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment on low to medium speed. Mix until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Snowmen

Snowmen

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix again for 5-10 seconds more.

Add eggs one at a time. Scrape down bowl with spatula and mix again for another 10 seconds.

Add vanilla extract and mix for 1 minute.

Slowly add flour mixture to bowl and mix on low speed for 1 minute. When dough clumps around paddle attachment, it is ready.

Snowy Houses

Angels

Cover dough with plastic wrap and cool in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Use rolling pin and take one quarter of the dough and roll out in between two sheets of parchment paper to desired thickness.

Cut out desired shapes and repeat until you have used all the dough.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Place cookie shapes on parchment lined baking sheet and space apart 2 inches. Put cookies in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. They hold their shape when you do this.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until center of cookie no longer looks wet. My cookies baked in 10 minutes.

Let cookies cool in baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely; about 1 hour.

Let cookie sheets cool completely before you bake again. I put the cookie sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes. Repeat until you have baked all the cookies.

Trees

Wreaths

Large Batch Royal Icing
Ingredients
8 Egg Whites

8 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

12 cups Confectioners Sugar, sifted

Reindeer

Ornaments

Directions
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment.

Slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Holiday Sugar Cookies

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. Watch the Joy of Baking (link at the end) video for both Flooding Consistency and Piping Consistency Royal Icing. If you prefer a recipe using Meringue Powder, it is also available at this link.

I separated the icing in plastic containers with lids according to the different colors I needed for tinting.

I use Americolor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Super White, Turquoise, Green, Super Red, and Super Black. I made Grey by adding a few drops of the Super Black. I wanted a bright white so I added two drops of Super White.

Santa's Belly, Mrs. Claus' Dress and Candy Canes

Gingerbread Boys and Girls

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color. Royal Icing hardens fast so keep it covered when not in use.

I transferred the icing immediately into Squeeze Bottles using a funnel to prevent it from spilling. Keep the squeeze bottle tips covered. If the Royal Icing hardens due to exposure to air, spray a little bit of water and shake bottle well holding the tip with your finger. Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie.

I did the white borders around each cookie and waited 1/2 hour before flooding the cookie.

Use a paintbrush or cookie stick to reach edges and use tip of toothpick to pop any air bubbles.

Icing Bottles in the colors  I used

I lined a cookie sheet with paper towels and placed the cookies on cooling tray over it.

I did all the outlines first and waited about 15 minutes and then filled the cookies and added decorations, sprinkles, sanding sugars, sugar pearls, etc...

For further information:
For the Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe, please visit Sweetopia:
http://sweetopia.net/2013/12/chocolate-sugar-cookie-recipe-cut-out-cookies/

For the Vanilla Sugar Cookie recipe, please visit Sweetopia:
http://sweetopia.net/2009/12/sugar-cookie-recipe/

For the Royal Icing Recipe and Video Tutorial, please visit Joy of Baking:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys