by Diana Rattray
These sugar cookies are perfect for a holiday or special occasion. Add colors to the royal icing and decorate the cookies with candies or sprinkles.
Recipe Variations
- Change the flavor profile: Add a different extract, like lemon or orange, or add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract with the vanilla.
- Chocolate: Add mini chocolate chips or chopped chocolate to the cookie dough.
- Nuts: Change the texture with finely chopped walnuts, pecans, or pistachios.
- Brown Sugar: Replace some of the granulated sugar with light or dark brown sugar for a caramel flavor.
- Icing: If you don’t have meringue powder, you can finish them with a basic cookie icing with 2 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of light corn syrup, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.
Recipe Tips
- Uniformity: Keep the thickness and size of the cookies uniform so they’ll bake evenly.
- Check for browning: A dark cookie sheet will brown the cookies faster than a light-colored cookie sheet.
- Chilling: While the dough is made with cold butter, chilling will help prevent spreading.
- Ingredients: Use a good quality butter and vanilla for the best-tasting cookies.
Sugar Cookies With Royal Icing
A simple royal icing decorates these basic vanilla sugar cookies. The royal icing is made with meringue powder.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 48 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies, Holiday Baking
- Method: Bake
Ingredients
Scale
Royal Icing
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; stir or whisk to blend thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups of confectioners’ sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, the almond extract, and the egg. Beat until well blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl until blended.
- With floured hands, gather the dough into two disks and flatten slightly.
- Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Heat the oven to 375 F.
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each disk of dough out to about 1/8-inch in thickness.
- Cut out cookies and arrange on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until set and just lightly browned on bottoms.
- Cool on a rack and frost with the royal icing (below) or another cookie icing.
- Icing
- In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the 2 1/4 cups of confectioners’ sugar with the meringue powder and water until the mixture is glossy and stiff peaks form (about 6 minutes). Beat in the 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and corn syrup.
- Divide the mixture among small bowls. Add colors as desired and mix well.
- Spread the icing on the cooled cookies and sprinkle with colored sugar, sprinkles, or small candies, as desired. The icing hardens quickly, so sprinkle as you frost.
- After the icing has set, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
