Christmas Cookies {Cookie Recipe}

By mitzzy

Ingredients

• Amanda's Amazing Sugar Cookies II
• 1-1/2 cup Butter (I Use Unsalted)
• 2 cups Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 2 whole Eggs Yolks
• 4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons Almond Extract
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes.

Add in 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks and mix until combined.

Add in vanilla and almond extract; mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly (about a cup at a time) add flour to butter mixture and combine. You can use a mixer or not, just depends on how strong you are.

I usually just mix ingredients until they are combined, as I have heard that if you over-mix this dough it will get tough.

Put dough in some Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out, cut out cookies, and bake for 6-8 minutes.

And not to be ignored, the best glaze icing you will ever find paired with a sugar cookie. (This recipe can be used the exact same way you would use royal icing, but does not ever harden quite as hard as royal icing and the tastes a bit different. Try Bridget's royal icing recipe if you want to try a wonderful tradition royal icing! Or just check her out, she just got back from The Pioneer Woman's ranch.. she gave cookie decorating tutorials to Ree and pals!)

Amanda's Awesome Icing

•1 cup Confectioners Sugar (powder Sugar)
•1 Tablespoon Milk
•1 drop Lemon Juice (fresh Or Processed)-this is optional
•1 Tablespoon Light Corn Syrup
*Also optional is any additional flavorings… peppermint, strawberry, vanilla, almond extract just to name a few!

Combine powder sugar, corn syrup, and lemon juice in a bowl. The consistency should be very think and hard to stir. Now read the following directions to make your icing perfect for decorating cookies!

******This next step is important!******If you need a thicker frosting, say for outlining your cookies, use LESS milk.

Just a drop at a time. If you have already outlined your cookies and need a to fill in or ’spill’ your cookies, you can add more milk (as much as you would need) to make your frosting very runny.

If you are using food coloring, be sure to use LESS milk. Most food colorings are liquid and can make your frosting more runny. If you are using a gel food coloring, your milk quantity can remain the same.

If you want to add different flavors, you can add drops of vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon, etc. to flavor your frosting.

If you want more SHINE, use more corn syrup and less milk. This frosting will stay good for days in the fridge.