Decorated Easter Cookies - week 13 of 52

This weekend a friend and I decorated cookies for Easter! I used an Alton Brown sugar cookie recipe and decorated with royal icing (different from buttercream icing, because when royal icing dries, it dries to a hard, smooth finish).

My friend made gingerbread cookies and I made the sugar cookies, we decorated and then split the cookies. Coworkers, you can expect tasty tasty Easter cookies this week!

The sugar cookies take a little time to make (needs to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours) but they turned out great! Note: the dough will be quite hard when it comes out of the fridge, but after working it a little, it will soften up.

This is my second time decorating cookies and it takes a steady hand, practice, practice and more practice and a little bit of creativity to get beautiful cookies.

Did you knows:
- Bulk Barn has an excellent selection of baking accessories (ie disposable piping bags, sprinkles, coloured sugar, bulk icing sugar).
- I recommend Wilton’s meringue powder vs the Bulk Barn version, as it is finer, and dissolves better
- Wilton.com has some great examples of decorated cookies
- If you type in “Easter Cookies” in Google images, there are beautiful cookies decorated by other bakers for ideas


Happy Easter and bon appétit!



Sugar Cookies – makes 36
$
Ingredients
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg, milk & vanilla and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired.

Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder – makes enough to ice 36 cookies
$
• 4 cups (440 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar
• 3 tablespoons (30 grams) meringue powder
• 1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla, lemon, almond)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water


In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder until combined. Add the water and beat on medium to high speed until very glossy and stiff peaks form (5 to 7 minutes). If necessary, to get the right consistency, add more powdered sugar or water. To cover or 'flood' the entire surface of the cookie with icing, the proper consistency is when you lift the beater, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface of the icing for a few seconds before disappearing.

The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

Makes about 3 cups