Holiday Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

By Hklbrries

Ingredients

• Cookies:
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup reduced-calorie margarine, at room temperature
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, if desired
• Royal Icing:
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 cups powdered sugar, lightly packed

Details

Servings 24

Preparation

Step 1

In mixer on medium, beat sugar and margarine together until crumbly. Add 1 egg, corn syrup, lemon juice and vanilla; beat until smooth and pale in color. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Slowly beat flour mixture into margarine until blended. Divide dough into four equal parts and flatten each quarter to form a round. Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray baking sheets with cooking spray. On a lightly floured board roll out one round to 1/4– to 1/8-inch thickness. With a lightly floured Christmas tree cookie cutter (about 2 inches tall), cut out cookies and transfer them, about 2 inches apart, to baking sheets; repeat with remaining dough. Bake until golden brown on bottom, 5 to 9 minutes. Remove from the oven; cool completely.

For Royal Icing, in large bowl whip egg whites and powdered sugar at low speed until sugar is moistened. Beat at high speed until glossy and stiff peaks form when beaters are lifted, about 6 minutes. Divide icing depending on how many colors you want to use. Add food coloring to achieve desired tint. To decorate cookies, place icing in a small plastic bag; snip a tiny hole off one corner of the bag. Pipe icing onto the cooled cookies to create tree-trimming designs and ornaments.