Sparkling Snowflake Cookies
Sparkling Snowflake Cookies
A few years ago I started baking sugar cookies. They have since evolved into a real joy for me. These are the cookies I made last year for Christmas. I like to think I've made several people pretty happy to have been able to eat one. They are softly vanilla scented sparkling delights! Firm enough to stack but still soft enough to sink your teeth into.
I'm not a big fan of the royal icing that hardens to a crisp. When I found the recipe for the icing that I used on these Christmas Snowflakes I was really excited. You can find it here on Stuff by Stace.
I was definitely inspired by her cookies to get into the art of baking and decorating great sugar cookies.
There's just something about a sparkling iced sugar cookie that transports many people right back to their childhood. It's really fun to indulge in one once in a while!
What I discovered, as I was learning the ropes of sugar cookie baking, design and decorating, was that when I make sugar cookies, I want to make a variety. I get bored being locked into one set pattern and the decorating becomes more of a chore instead of artistic expression.
I decided that whenever I make sugar cookies I need to have some wiggle room for different designs but a distinct theme to keep it all together. That way they will look beautiful boxed up and when people reach into grab one it's like "Wow! Which one do I pick!"
I didn't take a lot of pictures back then but If you'd like more information about baking sugar cookies, piping an edge and flooding icing on sugar cookies, just go over to my Autumn Maple Leaf Sugar Cookies for some tutorials.
Do you have a passion for baking sugar cookies? I hope these inspire you. Well dressed sugar cookies are a time consuming project but basically very simple. What will you be baking for the Holidays this year?
Happy Baking!
~Melisa
Sparkling Snowflake Cookies
Instructions
For the cookies
2/3 cup room temperature real butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Mix the butter and sugar together then add the egg and mix well.
Add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk and extract to the butter/sugar mixture, mixing well with each addition.
Refrigerate dough for at least one hour. I refrigerate overnight.
Roll the dough between 2 sheets of parchment or on a floured counter.
Cut with cookie cutters and place cookies on a cool parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-9 minutes in a 375* oven turning the pan around half-way through
For the Icing
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
6 Tablespoons whole milk 6 Tablespoons light Corn Syrup 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
I use a whisk to combine sugar and milk until it's smooth, then stir in corn syrup, extract and Wilton food coloring until I have the color I'm looking for.
Pipe an edge with a small round tip and a disposable piping bag with medium firm frosting. When when the edge is dried, flood the cookie with a fairly thin (runny) texture of frosting using a small spoon or the tines of a fork.
Allow to dry and then decorate the top as desired.
