Baked an Shared by Yolandie Olech
One of the most common questions I get is which sugar cookie recipe I use for my decorated cookies and royal icing designs. This is the recipe I’ve used for years when creating shaped sugar cookies that hold their detail beautifully during baking.
So I am way far from an expert when it comes to Sugar Cookies and all the Beautiful ways the Expert Decorators out there manage to make them so beautiful you can hardly imagine eating them.
But over the years I did manage to bake myself the perfect sugar cookie that is soft, melt in the mouth and works perfectly when you want to make some shape cookies like these heart ones I made here.
Now there are quite a few ways to decorate sugar cookies, below are some pictures of cookies I have done in the past using both royal icing and a layer of thin fondant.
So as you see, it doesn’t matter how much of a beginner you are, or what technique you decide to use. All Sugar cookies starts with the Cookie itself and I have just the one for you!
- This Recipe is Easy to Prepare
- Few Ingredients
- Little Time to Bake
- And Easy to Store
And with all baking, if you get the basics going, it all comes together so much more easier.
Tools You Need:
- Hand or Stand mixer
- Rolling pin of some kind (something to roll your dough out with)
- Oven
- Baking Sheet Tins / Oven Tin
- Baking Paper
- Lifting Spatula or “egg lifter”
- Wire Cooling Rack
- Cookie Cutters
Step 1:
Let’s Get The Ingredients Together
For the Dough:
- 500g / 5 cups All Purpose Flour
- 140g / 1 cup Icing Sugar
- 500g / 2 Cups Butter or 80% Margarine at room temperature
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- Optional : 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
For the Royal Icing:
- 5 Egg Whites ( I freeze the yokes and use them later for lemon curd)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- 6 Cups of Icing Sugar
- 2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
- Optional: 1 Teaspoon Vanilla or Flavoring
Step2 :
Start by Adding the Flour, Icing Sugar and Salt into a big Mixing Bowl for the Cookie Dough
Cut your Butter or Margarine into small cubes and add it to the flour.
Using your Hand or Stand Mixer, mix the dough together until the butter or margarine is incorporated and add the vanilla if you choose to use some.
Now keep kneading the dough until it forms a dough that does not stick to the sides or your hands. You are not using any liquid and since your butter or margarine was at room temperature, the dough should come together easily.
Step3:
Wrap the dough up into cling or plastic wrap, you may even place it into a zip lock bag if you wish and place the dough into the fridge to rest for at least 30minutes or until you are ready to use.
Step4:
Now that you are ready, take a little piece at a time, I found that colder dough really works and rolls out better if you work with small amounts than trying to roll out half a meter of dough at once.
Sprinkle a small amount of flour on your work table to keep the dough from sticking, and add a little flour to the top of the dough as well as your rolling pin. (don’t stress to much if you don’t have a rolling pin yet, my mom used to use her round long spaghetti Tupperware or a thick strong glass)
Step5:
This step might be the hardest part because if you are like me, I have hundreds of cutters, so choosing which cutter to use this time might just take you a while. But once you have the shape you can now go back to your dough.
Roll your dough out about 3-5mm thick.
Make sure you dip your cutter in a bit of flour before trying to press out the shape you want. Sometimes the shapes that has more curves can stick a little, if that happens, just use the thick side of a butter knife to softly press it out.
Remember that the recipe yields a soft cookie so you have to be gentle.
TIP: If possible try to press out all of fill out all of your tins, then putting them back into the fridge for at least 10-15more minutes before even starting up your oven. If your cookies go in the oven cold (not freezing) just cold, they will hold their shape. (pretty cool trick hey)
So now that I have about all my tins filled up and rested in the fridge, I put my oven on at 180 degrees and let it heat up for 15-30 minutes until your oven light goes off or indicate that the temperature is right.
Remember all ovens bake in their own way, so yours might bake at 170 degrees perfect and some might even be best at 190degrees, just bake one tin at a time at first to get the feel of what your cookies look like when they come out. Take your time and enjoy the process, if you bake in a rush or in frustration, you will only give yourself anxiety and we want joy and happiness…
Baking time will work the same way as the settings will. All ovens bake differently so my oven take 12 minutes, but sometimes I press them out a little thicker and they take up to 15 or 16minutes to bake.
Remember that cookies are not like a cake, after 12 minutes, you are allowed to open the oven and softly lift up your cookie to see if it is brown underneath.
- If your cookie starts to break when you pick it up, it needs more time baking
- If the cookie is dark brown it needs to come out immediately
- Some will take longer than others and that is okay, we are going to decorate them, as long as they are not paper thin or burned
- When they lost their shape, they need to be in the fridge longer
Step6:
After baking let the cookie cool down as much as possible in the tin, again this is not the same as baking a cake, if you lift it up when it is warm, the chance of them braking increase.
Transfer the cookies to your cooling wire rack and let them rest until they are cooled down completely before even attempting to try and decorate, if you can leave them over night that is much better!
Royal Icing Time:
Step1:
- Separate the egg yokes from the whites being very careful not to let the who combine.
- Add the lemon juice to the egg whites and start to whisk them at high speed until the egg whites start to froth up with the consistency of thick bubble bath bubbles. The lemon juice is important as it helps to “cook” the egg whites to not be dangerous when consumed.
- Add in the cream of tartar and continue to mix for a minute to combine.
- Start to add the Icing sugar one cup at a time, mixing at low speed or you will end up with a cloud of icing all over your kitchen.
- If you chose to add flavoring, you may add it here. I love using marshmallow flavoring in mine during the year and candy cane over Christmas
- Notice how your mixer will start to work harder but keep mixing until all the icing is incorporated, then turn the mixer to high and mix again for at least 5-8minutes, you will notice the icing gaining a lot of air bubbles, that is okay for now.
Step2:
Now that we have royal icing, place it into an airtight container or put a damp towel over your bowl at all times while you work. Royal icing sets hard quickly and you do not want icing lumps when you start to decorate.
Step3: Color and Consistency :
- I always prefer to use Gel coloring when it comes to royal icing as to liquid, the liquid can affect the consistency of the icing and you may end up with more sloppy icing than needed.
What Consistency do I use where?
- That will depend totally on the type of cookie you are making, in the picture above I thought I needed to give myself a little line first to work in, but since this was same color cookies and no other lines required, I could have spared myself a lot of time by just dunking the cookie right into the icing.
- Stiff icing – use this to make lines and to write or create a border to work in.
- Medium icing – use this for “flooding” when working between lines, I noticed that if my icing was too stiff, it created lines and not a smooth finish, when it was too soft, it flooded so fast and much, I had no control over it.
- Soft icing, – this worked perfectly for the cookies below where I just tipped the one side of my cookie in the royal icing, letting it drip off and then just letting it dry all on it own.
I will definitely show you all of these effects more in future posts and if you have any questions, let me know in the comments below and I will help you as best as I can.
As you will notice my cookies are far from perfect but they where loads of fun to make and brought happiness and smiles to everyone I gave them to, not even mentioning the extra income at times.
Remember :
Remember to let your royal icing dry at least over night before you attempt to write or decorate more or another layer on them. These cookies stay fresh for quite a few days so you have time to make sure you don’t rush your desired look. Again, don’t put pressure on yourself, if this is for family and friends, make sure you have enough time to prepare and have fun. If you are baking for extra money, not only is it good to make sure you have enough time to prepare, make sure the design you take is something you have either done before or have time to practice on.
PS : beginner bakers – using a very thin layer of fondant over your cookie in the same shape as I have done here, helps so much with cookies not braking too easily and having a smooth space to work on too (see the pictures below) (just make sure your clients know what they will receive)
I hope this post brought you a little bit of inspiration and courage to maybe start baking for Christmas gifts this year or even take a leap of faith and earn some extra income from home (just make sure you have the time and prepare well)
But my heart and thoughts, prayer and blessings go out to each of you who is feeling a bit more inspired to bake a cookie now. Remember everyone started from knowing nothing to becoming who they are today. Walk your own Journey and have happiness and Joy along the way
Happy Baking Beautiful People
All My Love
Yolandie Olech
