Birthday Cupcakes

I made these cookies for my friend Laura! Her daughter turned 3 last week so she wanted a treat to take to school. I wrapped them in cellophane bags and tied them with birthday ribbon. They were super cute and super fun to make!

Recipes

Here are my favorite Cookie and Icing Recipes!

This is the sugar cookie recipe I have used most. I got it from All About the Cookies blog.

Mom's Cut-Out Cookies

- 1/2 C unsalted butter

- 1/2 C shortening

- 1 1/3 cups sugar

- 2 tsp. vanilla

- 2 eggs

- 3 cups sifted flour

- 1 tsp. salt

- 3/4 tsp. baking powder

- 2 T. milk

Cream shortening, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, beat well. Sift flour, salt and baking powder. Sitr into creamed mixture along with milk. Chill for several hours or overnight. Rolls on lightly floured boards to 1/4" thickness. Cut into desired shapes.

Place on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

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I found another sugar cookie recipe I decided to try and I'm liking it alot so far. The cookies hold their shape really well when baked. I found this recipe on Bridget's blog.

Vanilla - Almond Sugar Cookies

- 3C unbleached, all purpose flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 sticks (salted) butter, cold

- 1 egg

- 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets (Tip: freeze the cut out shapes on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Now for the icing recipe for your cookies!

Royal Icing

Royal Icing can be somewhat tempermental but I've found this recipe works so well for me.

- 4 T Meringue powder

- Scant 1/2 C Water (scant=just below 1/2 cup)

- 1 lb. powdered sugar (3 1/2 cups)

- 1/2 - 1 tsp light corn syrup

Combine the meringue powder and water. Beat until combined and foamy. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine (Do NOT skip the sifting).

Add in the corn syrup (I think it helps keep the icing shiny)

Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.

(You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling). Do not overbeat.

Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste or food colorings.

The "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread house and monogramming. To fill your cookies, add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding."

Happy Baking!!!

Christmas Cookies