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Posts Tagged ‘sugar cookies’

Cookies are welcome at any party. Everyone loves getting and eating cookies. If you want to include cookies in your wedding, why not make them as favors? With a little ingenuity and a little practice, you can make really fun and adorable wedding cookies.

Start with a really good recipe for sugar cookies. Don’t even consider store bought as they won’t taste or look good in the end. Then, decide on a cookie shape. You can choose a cookie cutter that looks like a wedding cake, a heart, a flower, a shoe, or even just an elegant square or oval. Use a big enough cookie cutter so that you get a nice sized cookie out of it that will take decorations well.

Each cookie will need to be hand decorated. You can easily make royal icing or use fondant to create a surface layer for your embellished designs. Pipe icing onto the cookies after they have cooled. Use your new initial or pipe on rosettes, dots, or even a word or two. Once you get the hang of using a piping bag, you’ll want to get creative with what you put on the cookies. Wrap and you have edible cookie favors.

Sugar Cookies (from joyofbaking.com)

3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Royal Icing Using Egg Whites:

2 large egg whites

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

or

Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder:

4 cups (440 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

3 tablespoons (30 grams) meringue powder

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1/2 cup - 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water

Food Coloring (I use Gel Pastes that can be found at cake decorating and party stores or else on-line)

For Sugar Cookies: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have smooth dough. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove one-half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking.

Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you may want to sprinkle the unbaked cookies with crystal or sparkling sugar.

Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes (depending on size) or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing, if desired. Be sure to let the royal icing dry completely before storing. (This may take several hours.) Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper.

Makes about 36 - 4 inch (10 cm) cookies.

What do you give when someone far away has a birthday, an anniversary, or a new baby? If you want to ship a gift, you usually have to go and shop for the gift, wrap it, and then look for a suitable box to ship it in. By the time you write the label out and get to the UPS store or post office, you’re exhausted! There’s a better way to send a gift with a few simple clicks of your computer mouse.

We sell these tasty cookie gift baskets online! They’re made to order and then ship right to the recipients' door so you never have to run around town getting in and out of the car.

Cookie flowers have been popular for some time now. These decorative cookies are really more like pops as they come on long stems. They resemble a cookie rose. But they can be decorated with any kind of theme imaginable.

Cookie companies have really turned this into an art. The frosting and colorings that are being used now are so vivid, you’d swear that the cookies are real and not just representations of flowers.

Go for a theme that matches your gift-giving holiday. Cookies for Mother’s Day can mean red rose cookie blooms. New baby? How about a basket filled with long-stemmed baby bottle cookies or ducks or even baby faces? The icing artists who make these cookies are so skilled that the frosting really pops to life.

There are cookie bloom baskets for every holiday, no matter how obscure. Nurse’s Day? We have nurse cookies! Send over a basket to your favorite hospital staff complete with nurse’s hats, thermometers, and stethoscopes done in sugar. How about Groundhog’s Day? You can get a representation of that little fuzzy shadow-seeker, too! There’s really no limit to what you can order in the cookie realm these days.

You can also create your own cookie blooms. It’s really easy. Just choose a sugar cookie recipe and a cookie cutter that’s big enough to accommodate icing detail. Small, intricate cookies don’t work well for cookie blooms. You want a big and bold shape like a giant star or sunflower or teddy bear outline.

The only real trick is to get long stemmed lollipop sticks at the craft store and insert them before you bake the cookies. Many a disappointed home baker has tried to get the sticks in after baking and it’s just impossible. You’ll end up with crumbled cookies. And don’t try to move the cookies off the sheet pan before they’re completely cool or you’ll end up pulling the whole stick out.

Decorate with royal icing and icing tints or food coloring powders. The powders are found wherever cake making supplies are sold. And that’s how commercial bakers get the colors so vivid—a tip from the pros.

Stand your cookies up in a floral foam block or a cube of Styrofoam, then place in a basket that has been lined with fabric or a linen napkin. Make sure to hide the foam so it looks like the cookies are standing on their own. This is one thinking of you gift you’ll want to carry over to a friend’s house instead of trying to mail.

Fresh-Bake Any Day of the Week

Sometimes you want homemade sugar cookies but don’t really have a lot of time. You could go out and buy the pre-packaged sugar cookie dough rolls, and they’re fine. But if you really want to make sugar cookie dough yourself, just plan ahead a little.

A good sugar cookie dough will need to be refrigerated before you can use it. If you’re not planning for this, it can throw you for a loop. That’s why sugar cookies are often called refrigerator cookies. You make the dough and then roll it into logs and refrigerate it before you bake it. It’s not as hard or time-consuming as it sounds, but you do need to allow for at least a few hours of cooling in the fridge for the dough to set up properly.

Here is a recipe from Cooks.com that is easy to make and allows you to go do other things while you’re chilling the dough.

REFRIGERATOR COOKIE ROLLOUT DOUGH

1 1/2 c. sifted confectioner’s sugar

1 c. butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Cream sugar and butter. Mix in egg and flavorings. Stir dry ingredients together. Chill 2 - 3 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use half of the dough at a time. Roll out dough to 3/16-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Bake 7 - 8 minutes until golden brown.

ICING:

1 c. confectioners’ sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, salt, vanilla, and enough water for desired consistency.

Of course, you won’t want to ice the cookies until they are cooled. And you’ll want to form the dough into logs after you mix it. Place in plastic storage bags or roll in plastic wrap so the dough doesn’t pick up the scent or flavors of anything in your fridge. Never stick the whole bowl into the refrigerator uncovered. You need to divide the dough in half and take only half out of the refrigerator at a time. The other half should remain there chilling so it doesn’t start to get warm on the counter.

Roll out the first half of the dough on a floured countertop.  This way the dough won’t stick to it. But don’t go crazy with the flour. Adding too much additional flour can make your dough tough and your cookies won’t taste right.

Cut out shapes from dough that is a good thickness. Too thin and they will burn. Too thick and they’ll be raw big cookies. You can guess-timate how thick to roll out the dough. If you can see the countertop under the dough it’s too thin and if the cookie cutter barely makes it through and won’t hold the design it’s too thick.

Use only dry cookie cutters. Wet ones will stick and ruin your dough. You can dip them in flour if they start to stick a little under normal conditions. Just tap off any extra flour before you press the cutters down into your cookies.

Stay nearby while your cookies are baking. They can burn quickly if you get distracted by a phone call or get caught up writing emails.

Follow these steps and you’ll have the best refrigerator sugar cookies ever.

Related Articles:

• Berry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
• Cake Mix Cookie Recipe ? Double Chocolate Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies
• Honey Cookies

The white cake mix in this recipe not only cuts down on the ingredients needed, but it also creates a delicious twist to traditional rolled sugar cookies.  With the wide variety of cookie cutters available, you're sure to find one suitable for any occasion!

Ingredients:

* 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
* 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract or lemon extract
* 1 egg
* Sugar
* 1 cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting
* Food colors

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick cookie sheets). In large bowl beat cake mix, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on high speed 1 minute.
2. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each part 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered surface with cloth-covered rolling pin. Cut with 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters into desired shapes; sprinkle with sugar. On ungreased cookie sheet, place 2 inches apart.
3. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until light brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. 4. In microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 20 to 30 seconds or until melted; stir. Frost cookies.
5. Stir together small amounts of water and food color. Paint colors on freshly frosted cookies, using fine-tip brush, then swirl colors with brush or toothpick to create marbled designs.

Dry completely before storing.

Makes about 4 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies.

Find more Cake Mix Recipes here!

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons molasses
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon ginger

Cream shortening and sugar. Blend in egg and molasses. Mix dry ingredients together and add to wet ingredients and mix well. Roll dough in small balls and roll in sugar. Do not press down, cookies will flatten while cooking. Bake 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes.