Christmas Cookies

If you haven't started your Christmas baking yet you have to follow this recipe...

from : http://annies-eats.com/2007/12/12/christmas-cookies/
Ella’s White Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ t. almond extract
1 t. vanilla (or the seeds of one split vanilla bean)
1 t. salt
2 ½ c. sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter in mixer attached with paddle.
Add 1 cup of powdered sugar.
Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour.
Chill dough until firm approximately one to two hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface.
Cut out rolled dough with cookie cutters.
Place cookies on wax papered cookie sheets.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Pull cookies before browning occurs.
Once cool frost and decorate.

Yields approximately 40 cookies depending on size of cookie cutters used.

For icing I used Wilton's standard recipe

Royal Icing
Ingredients:

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tbsp. meringue powder
8 tbsp. water (edited from original recipe to make for piping consistency)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. 
Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container for coloring and storage.

If you follow my adapted recipe for royal icing the original consistency should be ready for piping. If you want to color the icing I would do that now by adding in a few drops of your selected color.  I prefer to use AmericColor gel paste which I have found to work better than anything else on accurate coloring and keeping the consistency of icing. With the thickened icing you will need approximately 1/4th of the prepared recipe for outlining.  Place this amount into a piping bag, with a #5 tip, and slowly outline the shape of your cookies. Once completed squeeze out any remaining icing back into the sealed containers.  Allow the cookies at least one hour for the outline to harden.. Slowly add in water a tbsp at a time to the remaining icing until the consisting is now thin enough that it easily slides off your mixing spoon.  Once that is done it is now time to "flood" or fill the interior of your cookie.  I found that toothpicks allow you to reach the tiny corners and crevices of the shape with ease. 

If you want to add any sprinkles I would do that after all cookies are filled in.  Cookies need to sit out at least 24 hours for the icing to set up. Once this is done you can package up your cookies and even stack them. If you want to pipe a decoration onto the cookie you must at least 24 hours for the cookies to harden up and then allow them another 24 hours for piping to set before being able to pack up the cookies. 

I wish I had photos to include with this post but the cookies were just too good that they were gone before I had a chance. : ) Again if you haven't baked cookies yet you must get over your fear and try working with royal icing.  I may never ice a cookie in regular frosting again.