Almond Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg or egg substitute
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 or 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional
Instructions
- Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Add softened butter and sugar to a large mixing. With a hand or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy (about 2 minutes).
- Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (optional) to the sugar and butter mix and beat on high speed until combined (about 1 minute).
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) to the wet ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, and extracts) and mix on low until combined. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add a small amount of additional of flour.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and place each part on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper (or a lightly floured silicone baking mat). Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness using a lightly floured rolling pin. Sprinkle more flour if the dough seems too sticky.
- Lightly dust one of the rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a piece of parchment on top to prevent sticking and place the 2nd rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil so the dough won’t dry out and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and prepare 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and let sit room temperature for about 5 minutes to soften. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut the dough. Smoosh the remaining dough together, re-roll and cut until all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough.
- Arrange cookies on baking sheets 1-2 inches apart and bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove cookies from oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Decorate completely cooled cookies with royal icing and paint as outlined below.
Store in covered container for up to 5 days at room temperature or refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar (sifted)
- 3 Tablespoons meringue powder (not plain egg white powder)
- 1-2 teaspoons almond extract (optional)
- 8–9 Tablespoons room temperature water
Instructions
- Mix confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and 7 Tablespoons of water into a large bowl.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat icing ingredients together on high speed for 1.5 – 2 minutes. You’ll be “flooding” the cookies, so check the consistency (the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 5-10 seconds when you lift the wisk up).
- If the icing seems too thick, beat in more water (1 Tablespoon at a time). Depending on the humidity level you can use 12 or more. Note: the longer you beat the royal icing, the thicker it becomes. If your royal icing is too thin you can keep beating it to introduce more air OR you can add more confectioners’ sugar.
- Put the finished royal icing in a pastry bag with a small tip OR put it in a small ziploc sandwich bag. For the ziploc bag, simply cut a little bit off one of the corners to turn it into a makeshift pasty bag. Start by squeezing the icing out as a border for each cookie. Once the border is complete, fill in the middle. You can use a toothpick to move the icing around and fill it out. If it is the right consistency, the icing should smoothen out and fill in the holes.
- Wait until completely dry before painting.Drying time depends on icing thickness. Typically a thin layer of icing dries in about 2-3 hours at room temperature.
Notes: Don’t leave the icing uncovered or it will start to dry out and thicken. if in a bowl, place a damp paper towel directly on the surface of the royal icing OR put directly into a ziplock bag.
Optional Flavors: Pick your favorite flavor- use 1-2 teaspoon of your favorite flavored extract, such as lemon, orange, maple, peppermint, etc when you add the water.
Watercolor Paints
Ingredients
- Gel food coloring OR powdered natural food coloring, like McCormick Nature’s Inspiration Food Colors or India Tree Nature’s Colors
- 3-4 teaspoons almond extract or another flavor extract or distilled alcohol, like vodka (don’t worry, it wil evaporate as it dries!).
Instructions
- Put a small amount of food coloring (gel or powdered) in small dishes or a paint palette.
- Add 1 teaspon or more extract or alcohol to each color and mix until fully disolved. Add more to make thinner or lighter colors. Add more food coloring if too thin or not colorful enough. Mix colors to make new ones (red + yellow = orange, yellow + blue = green, red + blue = violet).
- Present your child with their color palette and paint brushes and let them get creative!
- Painted cookies dry within 30 minutes (depending upon how much “paint” is used).