Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

Valentine’s day is right around the corner, and I thought that cute decorated sugar cookies would make for a really cute gift to give to your loved one(s) (or even to yourself!).

Now I am by no means a pro at decorating sugar cookies…actually I’ve only ever done it a couple times and I was decorating them more for eating then I was for making them look nice. This was basically my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies, and it didn’t turn out to be that much of a disaster as I thought it would have!

Instead of using Wilton’s piping bags with tips, or even a plastic bag to put my icing in – I used those ketchup and mustard bottles which worked perfectly because the tip was super small so I had control over where my icing went.

If you haven’t seen my Valentine’s Day Cupcakes I made the other day then go check them out! Tomorrow I will post my Valentine’s Fleur-De-Sel Caramel Brownies, cut into heart shapes!

Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients: (yields about 30, 2 1/2 inch cookies or 16, 3 1/2 inch cookies)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder and set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take about 3 minutes
Add the egg and vanilla
Add the flour mixture slowly
Blend until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl
Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a piece of parchment paper.
Using your hands, knead the dough a few times
Place the dough in a large ziplock bag and refrigerate for about 2 hours. (You can also place it in the freezer for 20-30 to speed up the chilling process, just don’t forget it in there!)
When it’s time to remove the dough from the freezer, preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)
When the dough has chilled and is firm, take out about half of the dough, leaving the rest in the refrigerator (until your ready to work with it)
Roll out the dough to about 1/3 of an inch thick
Use your favourite cookie cutter, and cut away!
Place cookie shapes on a prepared baking sheet
Place entire baking sheet in the freezer or refrigerator for about 3-5 minutes. Chilling the cookies this way will help ensure they keep their shape while baking
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Bake until they are just barely beginning to take on a golden tone

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box confectioners’ sugar (1 pound)
5 tablespoons meringue powder or 2 large egg whites

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup water.
For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details.
Mix until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.

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