Christmas Cookies

After watching a new Hallmark Christmas movie where the main character decides to go into a business making Christmas cookies, I thought I'd stick with that theme for our visiting teaching, home teaching, and neighbor treats this year. I have the perfect vanilla cookie recipe that I use for all cut-outs, but I had to search to find a good frosting/icing that would make them look vibrant and festive! I also thought I'd try out a chocolate sugar cookie. I think these turned out amazing! They look AND taste wonderful! Please enjoy.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

In a bowl, combine sugar and butter; beat until creamy. Add eggs and

vanilla; beat well. Stir together dry ingredients; gradually add to

creamed mixture until completely blended. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to

a 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with holiday cutters dipped in flour. Using

a floured spatula, transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheets. Bake

10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

One tip I have learned from baking these, is that you should not mix the butter and sugar together for too long; that makes the cookie spread while baking. Additionally, I have found from other people's comments and recipes, that refrigerating the cookies AFTER they have been cut into shapes and BEFORE being baked, for about 30 minutes, also prevents them from spreading. It's a pretty good idea; you should try it.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

(From sprinklebakes.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 scant cup dark cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together until just incorporated. Do not over-mix at this stage, or the cookies may spread while baking.

Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix again on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently as needed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Add to the butter and egg mixture.  Mix on low speed until a dough is formed and there are no longer any streaks of butter in the mixing bowl.

The dough will often clump around the paddle attachment while being mixed. This is normal and a good sign that your dough is the right consistency.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of wax paper and top with a second sheet.  Roll dough into an oblong disc between the paper with a rolling pin.  Transfer dough - wax paper and all - to a large cookie sheet.  Wrap the dough tightly onto the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove top sheet of wax paper and roll dough a little thinner.  It should not be sticky.  You may dust the surface lightly with flour if it is sticky, but not too much!  You don’t want streaks of white flour baked onto your pretty dark chocolate cookies.

Roll dough to a ¼-inch to ½ -inch thickness.

Cut out desired shapes from the dough and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Be careful not to stretch the cutout shapes or they will be distorted after baking.

Refrigerate the cutouts for 30 minutes. This will help the cookies maintain a crisp shape during baking.

The icing I chose to use was a royal icing using meringue powder instead of egg whites. I just made one big batch, following the recipe I will provide below, and then separated that batch into five different containers:

1. White - I mixed in about 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
2. Blue - I mixed in about 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
3. Red - I mixed in about 1/8 tsp. peppermint extract and then sprinkled those cookies with crushed up candy canes
4. Green - I mixed in about 1/8 tsp. almond extract and frosted the chocolate cookies
5. Gold - I mixed in about 1/8 tsp. almond extract and frosted the chocolate cookies

I also added 1-2 tsp. more water into each individual serving of icing and mixed it together. This made it more glossy and runny when I spread it, making it have a smoother finish in the end.

Royal Icing

Ingredients: 

• 3 Tbsp. meringue powder
• 4 c. powdered sugar
• 6 Tbsp. water

Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7-10 minutes, or until icing forms peaks. Keep icing covered; it dried out quickly.