Sugar Cookies Archives

My Favorite Royal Icing Recipe

December 4, 2019

Growing up, I remember the smell of Christmas cookies baking in our gold enamel Kenmore oven. And, the familiar smell of a few burned cookie’s edges, was the closest thing to what I imagine a Hallmark movie set smells likes. If we had smellavision. And, the best part of sugar cookies was the icing my mom made for the stacks and stacks of sugar cookies. My mom had her fav recipe, but today I want to share my my favorite royal icing recipe.

Royal Icing Recipe

There was always a date on the calendar dedicated to baking and frosting sugar cookies. We sorted the cookies on the counter by shape. The complicated reindeer antlers rarely stayed intact from cookie sheet to wax paper.

But, we always got to eat the cookies that failed to nail the perfect landing.

My mom set aside an evening to frost sugar cookies. It was a family event with sprinkles and primary color tinted icing.

My sister took her time and outlined every cookie with black icing.

I preferred the slap and slather icing application.

The sugar cookie tradition continued with my family with a few changes to the basics. I like a thicker sugar cookie dough than my mom. And, then there is the difference between my mom’s icing recipe and mine. My mom’s icing was more like a glaze. She might hav watered it down a bit too much to frost all of those cookies.

I needed to find my own favorite royal icing recipe.

For years I used a sugar cooking icing recipe from Martha Stewart. Martha’s icing recipe was made with powdered sugar, a few drops of water and an egg white. The egg white always made me nervous. The last thing I needed during the holidays was a salmonella outbreak at the annual Secret Santa party.

Of course, I never thought twice about eating a tube of raw cookie dough with my girlfriends in middle school.

Sidenote: I read this article by a food blogger about the safety of raw eggs.

And, then a few years ago I graduated to a royal icing recipe and discovered the magic of meringue powder and corn syrup.

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Favorite Royal Icing Recipe

ROYAL ICING

A favorite, easy royal icing recipe!

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Ingredients

1 pound powdered sugarg
1/2 cup water
1 tsp corn syrup
4 tbsp meringue powder

Instructions

Mix ingredients and adjust water for preferred consistency.

How to Make Monster Sugar Cookie Bars

October 18, 2019

I love sugar cookies. What I don’t love is a long-term commitment in the kitchen during the work week. These monster sugar cookie bars were the perfect way to make (and sample) sugar cookies without hauling out the cookie cutters. And, still, celebrate the Halloween season in the kitchen.

When I first saw these sugar cookie bars it was a baking epiphany. Before I found this version of a sugar cookie, it never occurred to me that I could make sugar cookies without cookie cutters.

Using a new sugar cookie recipe was a big deal; I had used this Cooking Light sugar cookie recipe for over a decade. But, this popular millennial blogger changed everything for me.

Proving those of us over 40 can learn new baking skills.

The concept was simple and to the point. It required sugar cookie dough, pressed into a baking sheet. That’s it.

The cookie cutter step was using a knife to cut rectangular shapes (bars) and add frosting. The frosting is my best baking friend (BFF) in the kitchen.

It covers up the glitches. And, for these monster sugar cookie bars, the googly eyes created little monsters. And the Halloween shades of purple and green frosting were a break from pumpkin orange frosting.

Monster Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe

FROSTED SUGAR COOKIE BARS

adapted from Inspired by Charm

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Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Line baking sheet with foil (for thicker bar use a smaller baking sheet).
In a large bowl: sift flour, baking powder & salt.
In separate bowl cream butter, sugar for about 3 minutes.
Add egg, sour cream and vanilla
Slowly add the flour mixture
Press the dough onto the baking sheet, bake for about 14 minutes until edges are lightly golden.
Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup half and half or whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Food Coloring & sprinkles
Once cookie bars are cool spread the frosting on the cookie bar.Frost as desired the flour mixture
Press the dough onto the baking sheet, bake for 14-17 minutes until edges are lightly golden.FrostingOnce cookie bars are cool spread the frosting on the cookie bar.Frost as desired

Looking for a lower-calorie sugar cookie? Try these!