Painted Christmas Sugar Cookies
Recipe Published: Dec 18, 2022
Written by: Jasma
RECIPE BREAKDOWN
Difficulty: moderate | Time note: the royal icing requires a couple hours to dry before being painted on | Oven Preheating needed: 325°F/ 160°C | Serving: roughly 30 cookies
INGREDIENTS
Cookie dough:
110 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
65 g (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
220 g (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
30 g (1/4 cup) corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Royal Icing:
30 g (2 1/2 tbsp) pasteurized egg whites
150 g (1 1/4 cup) icing sugar
Edible paint:
Gel food colouring
Edible gold luster dust
Clear flavour extract or alcohol
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Electric mixer
Cookie cutters
Here's the video tutorial! For more go check out my Youtube channel!
LET’S BEGIN!
Dough
1. Cream together the softened unsalted butter and white granulated sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue whipping on medium-high speed until pale and doubled in volume.
3. In the meantime, combine the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until a dough has formed.
5. Transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment paper or floured silicone mat.
6. Place the second sheet of parchment paper on top and roll out the dough to your desired thickness.
7. Freeze the dough for at least 20 minutes until firm. If you are making the dough far in advance, chill it in the fridge.
Shaping & Baking
8. Preheat your oven to 325°F/160°C.
9. Cut out your cookies using cookie cutters of your choice and transfer them onto a baking tray lined with the parchment paper used to cover the dough.
10. Bake at 325°F/160°C for 10-13 minutes until slightly golden brown.
Decorating
11. Allow the cookies to cool completely before making the royal icing by whipping the icing sugar with pasteurized egg whites until it reaches a glue-like consistency.
12. Dip the cookies into the royal icing until the surface is evenly covered. Scrape off any excess with a butter knife or offset spatula and lightly tap the cookie to help the icing settle into a smooth layer.
13. Allow the icing to air dry completely before painting. If made in advance, store the cookies in the fridge to avoid the butter bleeding into the icing and forming yellow blotches.
14. Paint the cookies with gel food colouring diluted with clear alcohol or clear flavour extract (which is high in alcohol content). Reference the video for more technical details. Enjoy!
