Snowflake Cookies for Jackson

I was so excited to get to use my snowflake cookie cutter I had bought before Christmas! My sons class needed some snacks and they were also studying weather, so this gave me a great excuse to break it in.  I have included photos of my how I made mine and also the recipe I used. My way of doing this may be unconventional, but I can promise you that my sons first grade class didn't mind it a bit (more on that later).

 

Recipe taken from Confetti Cakes Cookbook

Here are the ingredients you will need:

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons  All purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt (omit if you use salted butter)

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup unsalted butter ( I used salted and left out the salt in the recipe)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon of almond or any extract you choose

 In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

 Heres a little tip: if you are a baker, you know that all ingredients need to be at room temp. Very important!! But sometimes we forget to take the eggs out, etc. All I do is run hot tap water into a bowl and put my eggs down into it for about 5-10 min. Be careful not to get the too hot or it will melt your butter, just remember to get them to room temp. If you forget to take out the butter the night before, just pop it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds and wah-lah! perfect butter for baking. I can tell you this from experience!

 

Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat until the dough just comes together, being careful not to over mix.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface (I went a little crazy with the flour here). The recipes says to wrap the ball in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes, but I am way to impatient to do that, so I skipped this part and went on to the next step.

Place the ball of dough between two pieces of parchment paper.

Rool out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Keep dough in the parchment paper and transfer to a cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least an hour. ( I don't do this step either since I am impatient. Instead I put it in the freezer for 8-10 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Leave the dough on the parchment and cut out shapes using the cookie cutter of your choice.

 

 After cutting out my shapes I like to put them back in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. This helps them hold their shape.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown (see photo below).

 This is what they should look like when done baking. Some of my edges baked a little faster since they were not rolled out out perfectly, but I promise you that they still taste wonderful!

This is what the back of the cookie should look like. Allow the cookies to cool completely before icing.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sifted confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons meringue powder

1/2 teaspoon of almond, butter or lemon extract ( any you prefer)

1/2 cup of water or more depending on consistency you want

Sift powdered sugar and add all other ingredients. Mix with a hand mixer til stiff peaks form. I add a little more water to get it the right consistency.

Once you get the desired consistency you can go on to the next step. I started out by putting the royal icing into a piping bottle, but after hand piping the first cookie, I decided to try a different approach (heck, 7 year olds won't care , as long as it taste good, right?).

So here is my easy method: Dip the cookies down into the icing and tip it up allowing the excess royal icing to drain off.

Yes, it is a bit messy, but man is it alot less time consuming!!

Place the cookies on a wire rack over parchment paper and allow them to dry at least 2-3 hours (yes, this about killed me waiting).

Using a toothpick, add a little color to a portion of the royal icing. Less is more!!!

Mix the color to the right shade you would like and transfer to a piping bottle attached with a 2 or 3 size piping tip.

 Using the colored royal icing, pipe lines from each point of the cookie to the other criss-crossing in the center.

 

Make a larger v shape at the end of each line and a smaller v shape just below it.

While the icing is still wet, add the silver dragee to the center and then sprinkle with the glittered sugar or any other sprinkle of your choice.

 This is your final product! This recipe made about 19-20 cookies, but it will depend on how big your cookie cutter is. Good luck and I hope this helps!

Comments

[brandy]

Thanks for that post and the Tutorial! You make it look so easy!

[Deborah]

Absolutely georgeus. I'll have to try them at some point. I've only just started to do cookies. My first attempt wasn't that succesful though :(

[Brittany @ twocrazycupcakes]

I LOVE your site. I have been wanting to try cookies with royal icing for a long time. Thanks for the tutorial. You cakes are so beautiful. You are so talented. I wish you had a bakery :)

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