Week 10 :: Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

Gavin's Lightning McQueen Cookies!

I made these by special request for my sweet nephew Gavin!  Hopefully I will be able to add a pic of him with the cookies when he gets them!  These are great for shipping as the icing dries hard overnight and holds up pretty well.


I got the design idea from Sugar Mama Cookies who has so many cute ideas!  I am just amazed at the many baking blogs out there that have such great ideas.  I am continuously inspired by them and the wonderful thing is, when I botch something up I can send them a message and they'll let me know how to fix it!

Both the cookies and icing are super easy to make...the decorating is certainly the hardest part to these cookies, and I still need some practice but I think they turned out well!  The dough and icing are both very simple and the recipes are below.  The dough can be made in advance and saved in the fridge for a week or so and the recipe below makes a LOT of dough.  Happy Baking!! 

Rolled Sugar Cookies
All recipes

Prep Time :: 15 minutes

Chill Time :: 1 hour +

Bake Time :: 6 to 8 minutes

::Ingredients::

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

::Directions::

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until smooth.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.  Add extract.
4. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt and mix just until consistent.
5. Chill dough for at least one hour or overnight.
6. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and cut into desired shapes.
7. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Royal Icing
All recipes

Prep Time :: 5 minutes

::Ingredients::

• 4 egg whites
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon extract (almond, vanilla, lemon)

::Directions::

1. Beat eggs whites in large bowl at high speed until foamy.  Gradually add sugar and extract.  Beat on high speed until thickened.

::Note::  I used Meringue powder in place of eggs whites for these cookies since they are going to my little nephew and I didn't want to use raw eggs.  You can find Meringue powder at any craft or baking store (maybe even some grocery stores).

::Note::  Add more sugar to thicken for piping icing.


Here are some other pictures of the same recipes I made this week for Kristen's birthday, including some St. Patrick's cookies!