The sugar cookie colors I found most useful to make for Christmas cookie decorating are: White, baby blue, brown, black, red, yellow, and green. For brown, black, and yellow you only need a little bit so can make 1/2 the amount as the other colors.
Sugar Cookies
This recipe makes 48 sugar cookies, which keep for 4-5 days at room temperature or 7 days in the fridge in an airtight container. For best results, make the dough a day ahead, and reserve time to chill cut cookie dough for 1-2 hours before baking. This will allow the dough to take shape, be easier to work with, and not spread as you bake. Sugar cookie colors I found most useful to make for Christmas cookie decorating are: White, baby blue, brown, black, red, yellow, and green. For brown, black, and yellow you only need a little bit so can make 1/2 the amount as the other colors.
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 4.5 cups all-purpose flour 562 g
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 cups Earth Balance vegan margarine, salted
- 1.5 cups granulated sugar 300 g
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
Royal Icing
- 8 cups confectioner's sugar
- 6 tbsp meringue powder
- 1 – 1.25 cups room temperature water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- Mix all-purpose flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
- In the stand mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar together for 2 minutes with the paddle attachment until creamy.
- Add egg, vanilla extract, almond extract to the butter and sugar mixture and beat for 1 more minute.
- Generously flour a cutting board, and place dough on board. Divide to 2 portions and flatten each to a disc shape. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, ideally overnight to set the dough for using cookie cutters. If you try to roll it out right away it is too soft and sticks everywhere.
- Clear a shelf in your fridge so an entire baking sheet can fit inside flat. You will place cookie dough here in the next step and chill for 1-2 hours in the fridge before baking.
- Generously flour cutting board and rolling pin. Retrieve dough from the fridge and roll out one disc partially, enough to cut a few cookies. Make dough 1/4 inch thick before cutting, don't make it too thin, the cookie won't taste plush. Repeat until you use up all of the dough. Lay cut cookies on baking sheet and refrigerate 1-2 hours. Use parchment in between layers of cookies.
- Preheat oven to 375
- Bake cookies 1 inch apart for 12 min, until golden brown at the edges. Set to cool on cookie sheet for 2-5 min then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Royal Icing
- Combine confectioner's sugar and meringue powder in a stand mixer and add 1 cup water and the vanilla extract. Beat on high 2 min with the whisk attachment and then check icing consistency. You want the icing to drizzle down the whisk and smoothen out in 5-10 seconds. Add more water 1 tbs at a time if you need it to be thinner. Whisk for longer if you need it to be thicker.
- Divide icing into separate bowls and cover each with a moist towel to prevent drying, as royal icing dries very quickly.
- Add food coloring to each bowl.
- Assemble icing tips with plastic adapter, metal tip, and a tip cover. Place assembled bags in a tall cup, fold the bag over the edges of the cup and put icing in. Tie with a bag tie.
Notes
- Royal icing dries fully in 2 hours after being piped out. Allow to dry fully before stacking cookies for storage.
- Royal icing can clog icing tips, use a tip cap or a piece of clear plastic wrap to cover the tips on smaller tips like Wilton 1 tip.
- Wilton 1 and Wilton 2 are good for drawing details, Wilton 3 is good for filling in large areas with one color.
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Hello! I'm Sarah and this is Gray. This site is filled with recipes for desserts, savories, and photos of everything delicious we ate when traveling. Enjoy!
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