The BEST Christmas Cookie and Icing Recipe

Thanks for all your awesome comments and congrats on my Life Update!  Today I wanted to share a great recipe for all the holiday bakers out there...or for anytime of year you need a yummy treat that's sure to impress.

They taste even better than they look!  

If you need a festive horse cookie recipe, Olivia just posted one today too!

The BEST Sugar Cookie Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter (room temp)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract (to taste)
1 teaspoon  salt
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.  Mix well.

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. 

Tip! It's also OK to roll the dough into logs, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to roll, cut and bake.  I mixed my dough on Monday.  Then, I refrigerated it.  The next day I rolled, cut out, baked and outline/flood iced my cookies.  Then I piped on the details/embellishments the following morning.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to at least 1/4 to 1/3 inch-thick; don't be afraid to go thick, they taste amazing! 

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet or sheet lined with parchment paper for 8-10 minutes.  

Check them at 8 minutes and then every minute following.  Getting them out right before the bottom begins to brown makes for the perfect cookie.  Cool completely on wire racks.

Royal Icing Recipe
Makes about six cups of icing, just knock measurements in half to make a half batch.  A half batch of icing will outline and flood about 15 cookies.

7-1/2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
6 tablespoons meringue powder (can get this at craft stores)
12 tablespoons warm water
1 tsp of vanilla or almond extract (to taste)

Beat in a stand mixer for about 4-5 minutes until smooth.  Funnel or pipe icing into an icing squirt bottle to outline your cookies first.  Let them to dry for a minimum of 15 minutes.  

Once all your cookies are outlined and dry, add 1T of water to the squirt bottle of leftover icing and shake. Keep adding 1T of water and shaking well until you get the right consistency-takes some practice but should flow out easily. "Flood" the cookies with your solid color icing; icing up to the dry cookie outline/border.   

Let iced cookies dry overnight and then add the details with more piped icing.  Let dry again.  It just takes a bit of experience to know the proper consistencies for both the border and the fill-in icings. 

Tip!  Having a "test cookie" handy that you can muck up a bit as you work out the icing consistency  is helpful...then give that ugly one to your significant other, roomie or dog to eat (or critique as my husband did...)

Recipe adapted from Redcouchrecipes.com and my "cookie-mentor" Sharon!

The TOOLS!
These tools plus TIME and PATIENCE is really the trick to making pretty cookies...you can get all of these tools at your local craft store, I included links just so you know what to look for...

Wilton Squeeze Bottles 
Meringue Powder
Piping Bag 
Fine Piping Tip