Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, cold & cut into chunks
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
Cookie Glaze
2/3 cup yield
9 ounces (2 and 1/4 cup) powdered sugar, sifted
1 and 1/4 ounces (2 Tb.) light corn syrup
1 and 1/2 to 2 Tb. plus 1 tsp. milk
3/4 tsp. lemon extract, or almond extract or vanilla extract (Panera’s tastes like lemon)
Royal Icing
1 Cup Confectioners Sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Food coloring of your choice
Ziplock bags
Toothpicks
Buttercream
1 cup salted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, divided
4-6 tablespoons cream, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (I love Mexican vanilla)
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
gel food coloring
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Directions: |
Directions:Preheat oven to 350, with rack on lower middle position. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, blend the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 min. Add the egg and extracts and mix to fully incorporate.
Switch to low speed. Gradually add the flour mixture in 2 batches, beating just until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed. Do not over beat.
The dough is a bit crumbly, which is normal. Use your hands to work it into a smooth ball for rolling; it will come together with some “kneading..”
Roll on a floured surface to about 1/4″ thick and cut into shapes. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheets and freeze entire cookie sheet for 10 minutes, which helps retain shape when baking.
Transfer sheet of almost-frozen cookies straight into the preheated oven (only bake 1 sheet at a time.) Bake larger shapes approx 31/2 to 4 inch diameter for 9-11 minutes and smaller shapes 7-8 minutes. *It’s important to watch your first batch closely so you know how much time to bake your particular sized/shaped cookies. If they’re baked a bit long, they’ll be more likely to lose their shape. Cookies should be removed from oven when they seem slightly under-baked. They will set upon cooling.
Let cool a few minutes on baking sheet and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cookies cool completely before decorating. Sprinkles, frosting, whatever you like! Cookies will keep nicely at room temp in airtight container for several days.
Directions for cookie glaze:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, light corn syrup, milk and extract. It is a small amount of ingredients, but my powdered sugar tends to fly everywhere.
2. Add milk by the half teaspoon until it reaches the consistency of cold honey – thick, but flowing. It is much easier to add more milk than sugar.
Directions for royal icing:
Add confectioners sugar to a mixing bowl or to your stand mixer and with a wire whisk start mixing on low. Add the milk, corn syrup and almond extract and whip until smooth. Add more corn syrup if the icing is too thick to use, but be sure to not make it too runny or it will run right off the cookies. It needs to be pretty thick to begin with if you are doing an outline around your cookies.
Separate the icing into different bowls for coloring with food coloring. Pour the icing into zip lock bags and cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag. Using the thick frosting, outline your cookies and let the frosting sit about 10 mintues to slightly harden.
After lining your cookies with the thicker frosting, add a tiny bit of corn syrup to the frosting to thin it out just a bit, and mix well by kneading the bag, holding the hole shut with one hand. Fill the middle of the cookies with icing and using a toothpick, spread the frosting to fill in all the holes.
Let the cookies sit at room temperature on your kitchen counter until the icing has hardened all the way.
Once the icing is hard to the touch, you may stack the cookies to package up or store. Store at room temperature for up to one week.
Directions for Buttercream
In a large bowl or stand mixer, use the whisk attachment* to beat the softened butter until it is fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add half of the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons cream. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add the remaining powdered sugar and 2 more tablespoons of cream. Beat well.
Add salt, vanilla, coconut, and almond extracts. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add remaining 1-2 tablespoons of cream, if needed.
Add gel food coloring if you want to tint the frosting. (liquid food coloring can mess with the consistency.)
This is enough frosting to do about 2 dozen cookies, but that totally depends on your cookie shape. Frost the cookies (Here's the cookie recipe) and store in a tupperware on the counter for 2-3 days.
Leftover frosting is great on graham crackers! |
This recipe for Perfect Vanilla-Almond Cut-Out Cookies is from