DECORATED SUGAR COOKIES

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

When I first read about the challenge, I wasn't too excited about making decorated sugar cookies.  However, as the weeks rolled by and the busyness of school and after-school activities sunk in, I was relieved to have a simpler challenge!   Mandy of "What the Fruitcake?" set the theme as whatever "September" meant to us.  I knew I wanted to make cookies in the shapes of flowers and butterflies .... I could make them pink, purple, and yellow ... the girls favorite color combination.  I flavored them with some nutmeg and cardamom.  As the cookies were baking, the house smelled wonderful.  I bake quite a bit and usually the girls help me measure or weigh out the ingredients for the dessert.  When it comes to decorating the final dessert, my need for perfectionism doesn't let them anywhere near it!  This time they got to help with decorating the final dessert and as you can tell from the picture they thoroughly enjoyed the challenge!  After we were done decorating the cookies my littlest one declared "You're a good mom."  I guess all it take's is a little sugar cookie decorating to be nominated as a good mom.  So thank you to Mandy and the Daring Baker's for this challenge.  It turned out to be a great mother-daughter bonding experience!

{BASIC SUGAR COOKIES}

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

{Ingredients}

 
200g , ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g,  3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
200g, 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

{Directions}

• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid flour flying everywhere.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins
• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.
• Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
• Leave to cool on cooling racks.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.

{GLACE ICING}

{Ingredients}

1 lb powdered sugar
¼ cup + 2 Tbs. milk
¼ cup + 2 Tbs. light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract (or almond, if desired)

{Directions}
 
1. In a mixing bowl, mix sugar and milk first. Add corn syrup just until combined. Divide to flavor and add gel icing color as needed.

2. Ice cookies as desired. Cookies sometimes take up to 12 hours to dry completely. Once dry, you should be able to stack them without ruining the icing. You may also freeze these- put waxed paper or parchment in between layers.

{NOTES}

  The cookie recipe was easy and good tasting.  It tasted like my sweet tart dough.  I used a glace icing instead of royal icing since I didn't want a rock hard icing on the cookie.  I wasn't looking forward to the decorating, but it was fun once we got going.  The girls sure had a grand time helping me decorate!  I'm going to keep some dough in the freezer so we can do more of it in the cold winter months ahead of us.