From the Kendall Files: Decorated Butter Cookies

With Easter right around the corner, I feel like I've been in baking overdrive!  All the usual items for the restaurant, plus lots of treats for my upcoming family parties, mean the dishes are piled a little higher in the sink and my counters are looking awfully floury.  I can't complain, though, especially with cute cookies like these!  Although they are a bit more labor intensive, I love making decorated cookies for holidays and special occasions.  They can be decorated as simply or as elaborately as you'd like and look so sharp when individually wrapped in cellophane bags tied with a colorful ribbon.

I can't even begin to tell you how many of these cookies I've made over the years and all the different ways they were decorated- tuxedoes for a cake decorating event at Lincoln Park Zoo, hearts for an end of the year event at my school, and lots of snowflakes for a fun and edible Christmas tree.  Each time, I find myself going back to the same recipes for simple butter cookies decorated with royal icing.  The recipes are pulled from one of my old Kendall textbooks- "Professional Cake Decorating" by Toba Garrett and are just about perfect, with one minor adjustment.  One of my chef instructors told me that the secret to really precise cut-out cookies is to omit the leavener (the baking powder or soda).  So I've left it out of this recipe here and I guarantee you won't miss it, especially when you see how perfect the finished cookies are for decorating.

For some great tips and ideas for decorating your cookies, please click here!

*These measurements are by weight, and not volume, so break out that digital scale!


Best Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

8 oz. unsalted butter, softened

8 oz. granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

12 oz. all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line several half-sheet pans with parchment or silpats.
2.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar.  Scrape down the bowl and beat for another minute or two.
3.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until the mixture is well combined.
4.  Sift flour and add to the butter mixture gradually, a few ounces at a time, until just combined.  Reserve the last few ounces of flour and sprinkle over work surface.
5.  Turn dough out onto the floured surface and knead gently into the flour until it is all incorporated into the dough.  Don't overwork the dough!
6.  Divide the dough into four parts.  Place three of the pieces of dough into a large ziploc bag and leave one out to roll and cut.
7.  Flour the work surface and roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Run a large offset metal spatula under the dough to prevent it from sticking.
8.  Cut out cookies with cookie cutters and arrange on baking sheets.
9.  Gather remaining scraps and knead into next ball of dough.  Repeat process until all dough is used.
10.  Bake cookies in preheated oven until edges begin to brown lightly.  The time will vary depending on the size and thickness of the cookies.
11.  Let cookies rest on baking sheet until cool.  Transfer to a wire rack and decorate.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

4 ounces cold water

1 1/4 ounces Meringue Powder (found in the cake decorating section of craft stores)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

16 ounces powdered sugar

Corn syrup, for flood icing

Gel paste food coloring

Directions:

-Measure the water into the bowl of a mixer.  Add the meringue powder and stir to dissolve slightly.

-Whip the meringue powder and water together until soft peaks form (this looks like the consistency of a milkshake).

-Add the vanilla and gradually add the sugar while whisking at a low speed until combined.

-Whip at a medium high speed until stiff peaks form- it will be very thick and glossy.

-When ready to decorate cookies, prepare icings.  Separate royal icing into two separate bowls.  Cover one bowl and set aside.  This is what you will use to pipe details.  Add light corn syrup to the other bowl, one tablespoon at a time, just until the icing has a slight flow consistency.  This will be the "flood icing" you'll use to cover the surface of each cookie.  You want the flood icing to be easy to spread on a cookie but not too fluid as you want the icing layer to harden and dry.

-Tint flood icing as desired and spread evenly over the surface of each cookie.  A small offset metal spatula is great for this job!

-Allow flood icing to harden completely before piping details.

-When ready, tint the royal icing (the portion without corn syrup) and pipe onto cookies to create detail.  Sprinkles, small candies, and candy melts can also be used.