Best Friend Sugar Cookies
By Libbie Summers
Assisted by Candace Brower
Reluctant Model: Maggie Jo Summers
An orange laced sugar cookie in the shape of my bestie AND wearing pearls! What’s not to love?
Best Friend Sugar Cookies
(orange laced sugar cookies with royal icing)
yield varies depending on size of cookie cutter
Ingredients:
For Sugar Cookie:
5 cups all-purpose flower
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups (5 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 cups vanilla sugar (can substitute plain sugar)
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons orange extract
Dog cookie cutter (I ordered my Vizsla Copper Cookie Cutter HERE)
Royal Icing
Food Coloring (I used orange for the Vizsla Cookies)
Small pearl candies for making the pearl necklace
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed just until the two are completely incorporated. Scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Do not over mix to a fluffy stage –save that for a great cake. Mixing just to this point will help the cookies hold their shape. Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until completely combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the orange extract and mix just until combined.
Place the dough between two pieces of wax paper and press into a disc. Place in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 350º F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8 -1/4″ thickness. Using your cookie cutter, cut out the shapes and place on the baking trays about 2-inches apart. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Continue working with the dough by re-rolling the scraps.
Remove from refrigerator and bake cookies until the edges become a super light golden brown (barely seen)…about 8-10 minutes. Let cookies cool before decorating with orange Royal Icing (recipe below). Divide the icing between two bowls and make a flood out of one of the bowls. Keep the other one thicker. Fill a piping bag with round tip with the thicker icing and outline each cookie with it. Allow to dry. Flood the inside of the cookies with the thinner icing. Add the pearl candies for the necklace while the icing is still wet. Allow to dry completely before eating.
Royal Icing
yields about 3 1/4 cups
Ingredients:
3 large egg whites
4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food Coloring (optional)
Directions:
In the bowl of a standing mixer !tted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg whites for 1 to 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, and continue to beat. Add the extract and beat for 8 minutes, or until soft peaks form. Color the icing whatever color you like. I love bright colors! I used 4 to 6 drops of food coloring and a small spoon to stir.
To make a thinner, “flood icing (so named because it “floods” the area between the thicker frosting outline) for the colors, stir in 1⁄2 teaspoon water at a time until the icing reaches a thin consistency. Cover the icings with plastic wrap until you are ready to use.
(outlining the cookies with the thicker Royal Icing using a fine tip)
(once the outline of icing is dry, flood the insides of the cookie with the thinner frosting. I use a baby spoon to add the flood.)
(decorate the cookies while the flood icing is still wet)
(She refuses to look at them because she’s not allowed to eat them.)