@AuthorKristina Knight's Sugar Cookies!

We're sharing cookie recipes this week at WordWranglers - and I'm up today with my Sugar Cookies recipe. Everyone loves an iced sugar cookie at the holidays, and this one is always a crowd pleaser...I think it's because of the icing.

We always take a couple of Saturdays in late November/early December to bake and ice and then we freeze the resulting cookies so that starting on December 23, we just have to grab a tin of cookies from the freezer when we're ready to munch.

Here we go with the recipe!

Cookie Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups butter (the real stuff, don't use butter substitute, the cookies won't taste right)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs (medium sized works great!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the good stuff, from Mexico, not the generic stuff off the grocery shelf!)
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cookie Baking Directions: 

Put the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream them together until smooth; beat in the eggs and vanilla, again until smooth. Next, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Now cover the bowl and put it in the fridge, you're going to chill this mixture overnight. The next morning (or afternoon), preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out your dough (finally! something to use that rolling pin Aunt Betty gave you at your wedding!) to about a half-inch thick. Use whatever cookie cutter shapes you like (we're fans of stars, trees and balls because reindeer legs have a tendency to get too thin and burn...but you do you!). Cut out the shapes and place the cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Back about 7 minutes and then let them cool completely. Ice the cookies (don't worry, the icing recipe is below)!

The most important piece of a sugar cookie (in my opinion) is the icing. Some are fans of buttercream, but I like a lighter icing. One that adds sweet, and maybe has the hint of a crunch, but that stays soft in the middle...that is exactly what this icing recipe does!

Icing Ingredients: 

3 teaspoons milk (I like 2%, but whole would also work well)
2 teaspoons KARO syrup (the white kind, not the dark)
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla (the good stuff, from Mexico, don't just use that generic stuff off the Piggly Wiggly shelf)
Food coloring (I like gel coloring because the colors are more vibrant)
Any sprinkles or other edible decorations you want

Icing directions: 

Put the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl, add the milk, KARO syrup and vanilla and cream all of that together. You want the icing to be almost firm, not drippy, but it needs to spread easily. I always test it with a simple kitchen spoon -- if I can hold a spoonful upside down without it dropping right off, the consistency is right. Once the icing is the firmness you want, divide into different bowls and add the colors of food coloring you want, mix and you're ready to ice the cookies!

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Comments

  1. I'm going to have to try your icing recipe--I usually use either buttercream or icing made from crisco/powered sugar. But, I'm always up for an improvement :)

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  2. Very cute, Kristina! I've got a question. What is Karo syrup? I have a feeling we call it something different in Canada. Or maybe I don't know because I don't bake much.

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  3. Jana, KARO is any light colored corn syrup (there is also a KARO dark, but I don't like that stuff!). They are really good, Liz and Glynis! Thanks, Ava! Margie, hope you like 'em!

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