Hills Family Sugar Cookie Cutouts Food

THE BEST CUT OUT SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE

Steps:

• Cream together butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer.
• Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined.
• Add flour, baking powder and salt and beat until combined.
• Divide dough into two equal portions.
• Shape each piece of dough into a round, flat disc and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
• Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line two to four large baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
• Remove one sugar cookie dough disc from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften slightly.
• Place sugar cookie dough on a floured surface and roll to ½" or ¼" thickness (thicker = softer cookies).
• Use your favorite cookie cutter shapes and cut out the dough and place them 1" apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
• Repeat until all the dough is used. You can gather and re-roll the dough scraps two additional times (3 times total).
• Use a pastry brush and brush the cookies with a little bit of milk or cream. Then decorate with sprinkles, which will stick to the milk/cream.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and just set around the edges.
• Remove and let sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Repeat with second disc of dough.
• Combine all frosting ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
• Start with 2 TBS milk and increase until your desired consistency is achieved.
• If using food coloring, separate frosting into smaller bowls and add food coloring to your liking.
• Place each color in a disposable piping bag fitted with your tip of choice.
• Once cookies are completely cooled, decorate cookies.
• Let decorated cookies sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours, or until the frosting is completely hardened. Chilling them in the refrigerator helps speed up the setting process.
• Store in an airtight container or on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour and baking powder, stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the heavy cream. Cover dough, and chill for 2 to 3 hours, until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

HOLIDAY DOG CUTOUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture in 2 batches until just incorporated. Divide the dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap; shape into disks. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. (The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling.)
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough on a floured surface, dusting with flour as needed, until about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out shapes with 2- to 4-inch dog-shaped cookie cutters and arrange 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. (If the dough becomes too soft as you work, return it to the refrigerator until firm.) Gather the scraps and refrigerate until firm; reroll once to cut out more cookies. Chill the cutouts 30 minutes.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies, switching the pans halfway through, until slightly puffed and just golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely before icing.
• To decorate the cookies, divide the Basic Royal Icing into bowls and tint as desired with food coloring. The thicker icing will be used to outline your decorations.
• To make the flood icing for filling, remove three-quarters of the desired color icing to a small bowl and stir in a few drops of water until flooding consistency is achieved -- you can run a knife through it and it flows back to where it was in 10 seconds. Transfer the flood icing to a piping bag fitted with a number 2 round tip. Transfer the remaining thick icing to a piping bag fitted with a number 1 round tip. Use additional piping bags and tips for different colors of icing.
• Draw outlines of your decorations with the thicker royal icing, then pipe a generous amount of the same-colored flood icing inside the border of each design.
• Using a toothpick, spread the icing to cover the cookie. If making a design, decorate with more colored icing while the flood icing is still wet, using a toothpick to swirl to colors together as desired. Decorate with sugar pearls if using. Let the cookies set at room temperature, at least 1 hour.
• Whisk the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 5 tablespoons water and beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, adding up to 1 more tablespoon water if necessary, about 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and plastic wrap until ready to use to prevent the icing from drying out.

CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 12 minutes; obviously it depends on the shape you're using and whether they are on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after about 5 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.
• Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack. When they are fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of not-quite-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved confectioners sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Color,as desired. I think pastes are much better than liquid, not just because the range of colors is better but because they don't dilute the icing as they tint. Ice cooled cookies, as desired.

CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIE CUT-OUTS

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Put the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl if using a hand mixer) and beat on medium-high speed until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and paddle as needed, about 4 minutes more. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and beat until smooth.
• Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the flour mixture in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl and paddle as needed. Mix until incorporated.
• Divide the dough in half and shape into two flattened disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes before rolling, to soften.
• Position oven racks to the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Now flour parchment for rolling: Dust a piece of parchment with flour, place a disk of dough on it, dust the disk with flour, then cover it with a second piece of parchment. Roll out the dough about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes with 11/2- to 2-inch cookie cutters. Gather up the scraps, re-roll and cut out. (Chill the scraps if the dough becomes too soft.) Roll and cut out the remaining disk of dough. Working in batches, arrange the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake the cookies until the tops look dry and no indentation is left when pressed with your finger, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, then use a metal spatula to transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
• Decorate with royal icing as desired. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
• Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Mix on medium-low speed until pure white and stiff enough to form peaks.
• Add up to 1 tablespoon food coloring if using and mix with a rubber spatula until the color is uniform. Store at room temperature, covered, with plastic wrap on the surface for up to 2 days. Re-whip until smooth before using.

2020 HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, flour, melted butter and egg until soft dough forms.
• On floured surface, roll dough 1/4-inch thick. Cut with 4-inch house-shaped cookie cutter; on ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart. Reroll dough, and cut additional cutouts.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• In large bowl, beat powdered sugar, 1/3 cup warm water, meringue powder, vanilla and cream of tartar with electric mixer on low speed until mixed. Beat on high speed 7 to 10 minutes or until very stiff, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Spoon 1/3 cup icing (tint with food color, if desired) into small piping bag fitted with small round writing tip; twist bag to keep closed. Keep remaining icing covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out; set aside.
• On each cookie, squeeze piping bag firmly and steadily, working counterclockwise to create an icing border (use photo as guide). Release pressure on piping bag to cut off flow of icing and complete border. Allow borders to set completely, 30 to 60 minutes, before filling in. Add any icing from piping bag into bowl of remaining icing; keep covered with plastic wrap.
• Uncover remaining icing; mix well. In small bowl, place 1 cup of the icing. Tint with food color, if desired. Stir in warm water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until icing is the consistency of heavy cream. (Make sure icing is mixed well before adding next 1/2 teaspoon water.) Pour thinned icing into squeeze bottle, and screw on top. Keep squeeze bottle tip and any remaining icing covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out while decorating.
• Using squeeze bottle, on each cookie, fill inside of border with thinned icing. Use nozzle of squeeze bottle or small metal icing spatula to fill in all areas until completely covered. Let stand 1 to 2 minutes before adding any additional sprinkles. Let stand about 2 hours or until completely dry.
• Spoon 1/3 cup icing (tint with food color, if desired) into small piping bag fitted with small round writing tip; twist bag to keep closed. Pipe letters on top of dried glazed cookies. Let stand about 1 hour or until completely dry. Store covered in airtight container at room temperature with waxed paper between layers.

SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in cream. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle., On a generously floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. , In another large bowl, cream butter, sugar, vanilla and enough cream to achieve spreading consistency. Add food coloring if desired. Frost cookies. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.