Soft, chewy, melt-in-your-mouth Christmas Sugar Cookies are lightly sweet, with notes of warm wintery spices. Decorated with a sweet and simple icing outline, they’re the perfect Christmas treat!
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Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or a silicone baking mat, and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat on a medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Add in egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the stand mixer bowl and mix dough until just combined. Immediately turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface. There is no need to refrigerate the dough before rolling.
Roll the dough out to 1⁄4” thickness. Cut out as many cookies as you can, using various cutters. Re-roll the dough to finish cutting out cookies until all of the dough has been used.
Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet and place into the preheated oven on the center rack. Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges are just set.
Once baked, remove from the oven and let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet for 5-8 minutes to allow them to set up a bit. Then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Then repeat the baking process with the remaining cookies. Let the baked cookies cool completely before frosting.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla and salt.
While the mixer is running, stream in the water. Whisk for 4-5 minutes, until smooth.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag, then cut the very tip of the piping bag off to create a small hole.
Notes
Icing Basics
With one hand, hold the top end of the piping bag, making it easier to apply pressure evenly. Use your other hand to either hold the cookie or to stabilize the piping bag.
When you're ready to pipe, hold the bag directly above the cookie at a 90-degree angle. Use medium pressure to pipe icing out. Go slowly to ensure the icing comes out in a clean and steady line and not broken up.
If the icing is coming out in small sections, maintain pressure and slow down. You can practice by piping lines and circles onto a piece of parchment before piping onto the cookies. This will allow you to determine the pressure you need and will eliminate having to scrape icing off of cookies.
Once the cookies are all iced, let them set at room temp, in the open air, to dry before consuming.
Decorating
Mitten: Outline the perimeter of the mitten, then make a line on the upper base of the mitten to outline the cuff. In the outline of the cuff, make small Xs for added detail.
Candy Cane: Outline the perimeter of the candy cane. Make slightly diagonal lines in pairs of 2 starting at the bottom, then going up and around the top of the candy cane.
Gingerbread Man: Outline the perimeter of the gingerbread man. Next, add squiggly lines at the base of each arm and the base of each leg. Finish off with dotted eyes and a smiley face.
Snowman: Outline the perimeter of the snowman, then make a single line at the base of his hat. Fill in his hat with frosting, using a toothpick to smooth it out. Add 2 dotted eyes, then make a small, long triangle to form the nose. Next, add dots at the base of his face to form a smile. Finish off with 3 dots in the center, going vertically down the front to create buttons.
Christmas Tree: Outline the perimeter of the Christmas tree. Next, make 4 squiggly lines going from the left side to the right. Start the 1st line about 1⁄4“ from the peak, then space out each line about the same going down to create layers.
Storage
Cookies may be stored in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
Tips
• Silicone baking mats are a great alternative to parchment paper. • Once the flour mixture is added to the recipe, make sure to only mix until just combined. Over-mixing can cause the gluten to overdevelop, resulting in a crumbly cookie.• There is no need to refrigerate this dough, however, it can be made ahead, wrapped and refrigerated until ready to use. It can also be frozen for up 3 months. Once you're ready to use it, remove it and let it set at room temp until it has softened and is close to room temp.• Unsalted butter may be used instead of salted. If unsalted is used, add a slightly heaped 1⁄4 tsp of salt to the recipe.