Happy Belated Belated Belated.. Valentine's Day!
How late am I? Apologizes. It isn't even February anymore! But don't you love sugar cookies? Granted it is time consuming but it is worth it.(the decorating, not the eating). The results are so cute and tasty too. Some people say they are flavourless and dry but I strongly disagree. This recipe has always been great because they are actually chewy but still maintain their shape.
From Everyday Food Cookie Special 2005
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes, or place in a resealable plastic bag, and freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator overnight). Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as needed. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets. If dough gets soft, chill 10 minutes. Reroll scraps; cut shapes. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes, depending on size. Cool completely on wire racks.
Royal Icing
From Martha Stewart Cupcakes
1 pound aka 4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp meringue powder
Scant aka just less than 1/2 cup water or more if you need it
Chocolate of any flavour
Beat all ingredients until smooth with either an electric mixer or by hand. For some reason I pretty much always hand mix and I really recommend that you use a mixer for this. It will make life easier, I'm sure. The icing should be thick enough to drizzle a ribbon onto the surface of the mix when the beater is lifted. Now. I usually have it relatively thick. Separate the icing into small bowls if using various colours. Then put some icing into a piping bag with a small attachment or in this case a ziploc bag with a tiny cut in the corner. Pipe along the edges of the sugar cookies to create a border. This border with hold the rest of the icing in and creates clean lines. Let these dry. To the already prepared icing, add a bit of water so that it is slightly thinner. This allows for the icing to spread easily and quicker. If needed, add more colour so that the border and center and similar. Spread this thinner icing in the cookies. Allow to dry. For the writing on the cookies, melt chocolate which was semisweet for these. Once again, put into a piping bag with a small tip or the ziploc way. Pipe whatever you like! I even made one for my boyfriend, Brad Pitt. The chocolate will firm so just reheat in the microwave as needed. Let cool or eat right away!
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