Christmas Sugar Cookies

Alas I have included Christmas cookies to this sweet blog. I mean, it's a must. I made sure of this too: I baked them in the morning before work and finished them late at night after a busy day. Despite the hard work involved, there is something truly magical about baking and decorating Christmas cookies. To me Christmas cookies are such a part of Christmas joy. They are such a part of Christmas traditions. That is the wonder of food. It brings people together and makes them truly happy. In my family, we long for my mom's cookies, which she starts baking about a week before Christmas because there are so many types. These cookies are a part of breakfast and a huge part of dessert. They are dessert on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas. I eat about eight to ten cookies both days (I have to be honest with you). And I do not feel bad about that in any way. Eating the buttery, sugary little cookies brings me happiness. You should not limit yourself from happiness. Every day is an occasion, so we must treat each day just as that.

This particular sugar cookie recipe I really do enjoy. It is not overly sweet and sugary, as the typical frosted sugar cookie tends to be, even when completely covered in royal icing. This means you can eat more of them, and that my friend, is a wonderful thing.  My color focus was teal and white, while

the shapes were purely focused on winter, using only snowflake and snowmen cut-outs.

I hope that these cookies bring you the same joy, my mother's cookies bring me. Embrace the sweetness. Embrace the indulgence. Embrace the pure happiness they bring you. Bake and decorate them with the ones you love most. And make sure you bake them with love. 

Sugar Cookies

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tbsp. vanilla

1) Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.

2) In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, beating until well combined. Beat in vanilla extract.

3) With mixer speed on low, add the dry to the butter mixture, beating just until combined.

4) Shape dough into a round, slightly flatten. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

5) Roll dough to 1/4 in thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out cookies with desired stencils, Making sure to use all of the dough and rerolling scraps as needed.

6) Place ccokies on a nonstick baking tray and bake for about 9 min or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove cookies from tray and cool until ready to frost.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light Magazine.

Royal Icing

4 cups of confectioners' sugar, sifted

3 tablespoons of meringue powder

1/2 cup of warm water, plus more for thinning to soft-peak or flood consistency

Gel food coloring, as needed

1) In a mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, stir together the confectioners' sugar and the meringue powder on low speed until combined.

2) Add the warm water and beat on medium-high speed until very stiff peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes.

3) Divide and tint with food coloring as needed. Add more water as needed for flood consistency icing.

Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes cookbook.

Decorate cookies however your heart desires. In what every shape or color. Sprinkles, sanding sugar, or completely cover in icing.

Please enjoy!