Santa Star Cookies Food

DECORATED SANTA COOKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and egg. Stir flour and baking powder together and add to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined then flatten the dough into a disc. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface about ¼" thick.
• Cut as many stars as possible from the dough, dipping the cookie cutter in flour before cutting each cookie. Remove the scraps then transfer the stars onto prepared cookie sheets. Shape the scraps into a cohesive ball, add more dough then continue to roll and cut until no dough remains.
• Prior to baking, bend one tip of each star over slightly to form Santa's hat. Bake each batch of cookies 7-8 minutes then allow them to cool completely before decorating.
• To decorate, coat the top of each cookie completely in white icing. Don't worry about making it smooth-the more swoops and swirls the better! Sprinkle or dip the 'hat' in red sugar crystals, being careful not to get any on other areas. Use a butter knife to scrape the icing from a small area under the hat for Santa's face.
• Place 2 small dots of black gel icing in the area where the icing has been removed then place a red candy on the face to form a nose. Add a small dab of white icing to one side of a mini marshmallow and place it on the end of the hat to make a pom-pom. Repeat with all remaining cookies. Enjoy!

SANTA CLAUS SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. Santa-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets., Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., For frosting, in a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Beat in milk, vanilla and salt. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Pipe onto cookies and decorate as desired.

RED STAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in orange juice concentrate and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-in. star-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., For icing, in a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, warm water, meringue powder and cream of tartar; beat on low speed just until blended. Beat on high 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Tint red with food coloring. Keep unused icing covered with a damp cloth at all times. If necessary, beat again on high speed to restore texture., Spread icing on cookies; immediately sprinkle with colored sugar. Let stand until set.

SANTA HEART-SHAPED COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• In large bowl, stir cookie mix, flour, melted butter and egg until soft dough forms. On floured surface, roll dough 1/4-inch thick. Cut with floured 3-inch heart shaped cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.
• In small bowl, stir food color into 1/2 cup of frosting to create desired color. Place 1/3 cup untinted frosting into small resealable food storage plastic bag; partially seal bag. Cut off tiny bottom corner of bag; set aside.
• Turn cookies so pointed ends are up. Working with one cookie at a time, spread 2 teaspoons of remaining untinted frosting on lower third of cookie for beard. Spread generous teaspoon red frosting on upper 1/3 of cookie for hat. Squeeze bag of frosting to pipe dots to attach eyes and nose. Pipe to finish hat, pom pom; decorate with additional decorations as desired. (Use photo as guide.)
• Decorate each cookie before starting another so frosting does not set. Let stand until frosting is set, about 1 hour. Store in airtight container at room temperature with waxed paper between layers.

SANTA AND ELF CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in the egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well., Divide dough into thirds. Shape each into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Wrap in waxed paper and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes or until easy to handle., For Santas: On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 portion of dough into a 10-in. circle. Turn a pie plate upside down over circle and cut around the edge with a knife; reserve scraps. Cut into 8 wedges., Place wedges 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Fold the tip of each wedge down. Tuck a scrap piece of dough (about a 1/2-in. ball) under the upper part of fold., For elves: Roll another portion of dough into a 10-in. circle. Cut in half; cut 1 half into 4 wedges and the other half into 8 wedges. Repeat forming Santas with the large wedges. Transfer small wedges to a baking sheet; fold tips down, forming hats., Roll the remaining portion of dough into a 10-in. circle. Cut into 16 wedges. Transfer to baking sheets; fold tips down., Bake at 350° for 10-13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., To decorate: In a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and cream of tartar; add water. Beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form., Tint icing with colors of your choice. (Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth. If necessary, beat again on high speed to restore texture.) Working with one cookie at a time, decorate with icing, attach a marshmallow to the tip of hat and finish with sprinkles and dragees as desired. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.