Classic sugar cookies that hold their shape with a tutorial on flooding with royal icing.
Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Since sugar cookies are pretty much the mascot of Christmas cookies, I thought I'd start off our Week of Christmas Cookies Recipes by sharing my recipe. My grandma gave me this recipe, and I love it because these are especially great at holding their shape. I use this recipe every Christmas, but I also use it for all my kids' birthdays to make theme cookies.
I've also seen royal icing flooding all over Pinterest, especially right now during the holiday season. But, seriously, there's a reason for that, and it's because it's awesome. It's pretty simple, and always looks so much neater than frosting with a spatula. I first used royal icing for The Boss's first birthday party (4 years ago now!), and I've been hooked on it ever since. Love. It.
Sugar Cookies
What you'll need:
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 egg
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (or lemon or almond)
- ¾ teaspoon cream tartar
Directions for Classic Sugar Cookies
1. In a large mixing bowl
, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs and mix well. Then add flavoring and mix again.
3. Add dry ingredients and stir by hand with a large spoon.
4. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350° for about 5-7, until lightly brown on the edges. Cool before frosting.
Flooding with Royal Icing
One word of caution when working with royal icing: You cannot leave it sitting out. Once you prepare it, you have to work fast because it hardens. I've found that after coloring it, if you transfer it to a plastic baggy it will keep until you're ready for it.
What you'll need:
- 3 egg whites
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- optional- food coloring
- Plastic bags
- Decorating bag
- A small round decorating tip (I use a Wilton 3)
)
Directions for Royal Icing
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites and powdered sugar until smooth.
2. The frosting to outline the cookies needs to be a bit thicker than the rest of it. So remove about a half cup of the royal icing you prepared in step one and place it in a separate bowl. Add more powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition, until the consistency reaches that of a slightly more runny buttercream.
3. Add food coloring to both your outlining and flooding icings, if you desire. Transfer the the thin flooding icing to a plastic baggy and seal the top. Transfer the thicker icing to the decorating bag
with the tip attached.
4. Outline each cookie with the thick icing. You can do just a simple outline around the outside of the cookie, or you can outline different sections to fill with different colors (or not fill at all). My outlined sugar cookies are pictured below.
5. When you're done with the outlining, you're ready to fill. Cut a very small corner off the plastic baggy holding the royal icing. Pour gently onto the cookies. The frosting will spread itself over the cookies, and you can fill in the empty spots if there are any.
That's it! Pretty simple! And ends in pretty, fun, professional-looking cookies.
Did you like this recipe? Find more on my Christmas Cookies board on Pinterest!
Stay tuned the rest of this week for more amazing Christmas Cookies Recipes this week, and check out the rest of our recipes at our Week of Christmas Cookies main page.
Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 egg
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or lemon or almond
- ¾ teaspoon cream tartar
Royal Icing
- 3 egg whites
- 4 cups powdered sugar plus some additional for thickening
- optional- food coloring
- Plastic bags
- Decorating bag
- A small round decorating tip
Instructions
For the Sugar Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and mix well. Then add flavoring and mix again.
- Add dry ingredients and stir by hand with a large spoon.
- Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350° for about 5-7, until lightly brown on the edges. Cool before frosting.
For the Royal Icing
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites and powdered sugar until smooth.
- The frosting to outline the cookies needs to be a bit thicker than the rest of it. So remove about a half cup of the royal icing you prepared in step one and place it in a separate bowl. Add more powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition, until the consistency reaches that of a slightly more runny buttercream.
- Add food coloring to both your outlining and flooding icings, if you desire. Transfer the the thin flooding icing to a plastic baggy and seal the top. Transfer the thicker icing to the decorating bag with the tip attached.
- Outline each cookie with the thick icing. You can do just a simple outline around the outside of the cookie, or you can outline different sections to fill with different colors (or not fill at all).
- When you're done with the outlining, you're ready to fill. Cut a very small corner off the plastic baggy holding the royal icing. Pour gently onto the cookies. The frosting will spread itself over the cookies, and you can fill in the empty spots if there are any.
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Natasha says
Thank you for sharing the flooding technique. I try every year to flood my cookies and they often just start to drip down the sides. While my girls love them I would like to present some fantastic looking and tasting cookies for once.