There’s nothing better than baking during the holiday season. It’s a time to indulge with less guilt and to share the goodness with your friends and family. With that, I thought I’d share one of my favourite holiday recipes - sugar cookies.
It’s a perfect activity and easy to follow recipe to do with your kids (and big kids!), particularly when it comes to making the glaze icing!
There are two options for making the glaze. I’d love to hear in the comments below which option you chose and how the cookies turned out for you.
Cookies:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Glaze Icing:
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1/8 tsp almond extract
- 3 drops food colouring (optional)
Instructions:
- With an electric mixer beat sugar, butter and vanilla until mixture is creamy - about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
- Add eggs beating after each egg; beat thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
- Roll out cookie dough to 1/4" (0.6 cm) onto a lightly floured board. For best results, do not roll cookie dough too thin. Use cookie cutters of your choice for a variety of different shapes and sizes.
- Place cookies on parchment-lined cookie sheets.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 10 minutes or until the underside of the cookies turn golden brown. Allow to cool before applying the glaze and then enjoy!
Two options for the glaze:
Glaze 1: Combine icing sugar with milk to reach desired spreading consistency. Stir in food colouring or leave icing white. Using a pastry brush, paint frosting over cooled cookies and decorate with your choice of coloured sugar, toasted coconut, slivered almonds, chocolate shavings or chocolate chips. These all make great toppings!
Or:
Glaze 2: Melt butter (1 Tbs) with cream (1/2 cup) and add a little vanilla extract. Then add as much icing sugar as needed for your desired thickness of icing.