this week’s bake – sugar cookies (and my first attempt at royal icing)

Well, it is Sunday, and time to bake again.  I’ve had this almond-flavored sugar cookie recipe for years and it’s always been a favorite.  It came with an icing recipe, but I wanted to try my hand at Royal Icing.

This recipe says to chill the dough for 1 hour after making before rolling it out.  Since I didn’t make up the dough until Saturday evening, I just refrigerated it overnight.  That was a mistake.  When I took it out of the fridge, it was almost as hard as a rock.  So, I had to wait for the dough to come back to room temperature before I could roll it out.

I used a snowflake cookie cutter to match the weather outside.  At 6 – 8 minutes, these cookies bake up pretty fast.  Icing them is the time consuming part.

This recipe makes up a different amount of cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter.  With this large snowflake, it made nearly 3 dozen cookies.

Then came the tricky part.  Making the Royal Icing.  I researched several recipes online and how to get the icing consistency you need for outlining the cookie and then flooding it with icing.  I’m not sure I achieved the right consistency, but it worked well enough for a first attempt and not knowing what I was doing.

The icing part was messy and time consuming.  I thought I’d never get to the end of the cookies, but I did get a little faster at it as I went along.

I probably should have tried an easier shape than a snowflake.  But, with practice, I’m sure it will get easier and I will get better at it.

The recipe for the cookie dough and the icing that came with the recipe is provided below.  If you want to use Royal Icing, you can find a variety of recipes and tips on the internet, so I have not included that here.  I think I’ll try a different icing recipe next time and compare them.

Sugar Cookies

MIX:   2 sticks soft butter and 1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar

ADD:  1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 tsp. almond extract, 2-1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. cream of tartar.

CHILL:  1 hour and roll out

BAKE:   at 375 F for 6-9 minutes.  Place on wire rack to cool.  Ice cookies when cool.

ICING:  Mix confectioner’s sugar, almond extract, and a small amount of water together until spreading consistency (this is not a Royal Icing recipe).