Snowflake Cookie Ornaments Food

SNOWFLAKE ORNAMENT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. In another bowl, whisk flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. , Divide dough into three portions. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1-in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using a plastic straw, make a hole about 1/2 in. from the top of each cookie. Using small decorating cutters, cut out desired shapes to create designs in snowflakes. , Bake 5-6 minutes or until set. Use straw to reopen holes in cookies. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining portions, using 4- and 5-in. cutters. Bake 4-in. cookies, 6-7 minutes; bake 5-in. cookies, 8-10 minutes., For glaze, in a small bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and enough water to reach desired consistency. Brush over snowflakes; sprinkle with glitter. Let stand at least 5 minutes or until set. , Thread ribbon through the holes.

SNOWFLAKE COOKIE ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. , Divide dough into fourths. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion to 1/8-in. thickness. (Refrigerate other portions until ready to use.) Using a variety of sizes of floured snowflake cookie cutters, cut out snowflakes. , Carefully place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using small decorating cutters, cut out desired shapes to create designs in some of the snowflakes. Use a toothpick to help remove the cutouts. With a plastic straw, poke a hole in the top of each small cookie. , Bake medium and large snowflakes 6-1/2-7 minutes and small snowflakes 6 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough., For royal icing, in a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and meringue powder. Add warm water; beat on low speed 1 minute. Beat on high 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Tint half blue. Leave remaining icing white; cover and set aside., With blue icing and a round tip, outline half of the cookies; fill in centers with blue icing and let dry completely. With white icing and a round tip, outline each blue-colored cookie and create snowflake designs. Let dry completely., On the remaining cookies, repeat process using white icing on white frosted cookies. Thread a ribbon through the hole in each small snowflake and through the cutout in each medium and large snowflake.

HOLIDAY COOKIE PROJECTS: SNOWFLAKES, DREIDEL TRIOS, AND ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until smooth. Add the sugar and mix. Add the egg and mix. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together. Working in batches, and mixing just until combined after each addition, add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Shape the dough into a thick disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 1 or 2 sheet pans. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick.
• Icing decorations:
• Stir the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla together until smooth.
• To make snowflakes:
• Use a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make the holes in the dough about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Using only white icing and a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe thin lines from the center of the cookie out to the points, like spokes of a wheel. Connect the spokes with thin lines in between them, making a spiderweb effect to make it look like a snowflake. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string or yarn for hanging.
• To make dreidel trios:
• Use a dreidel cookie cutter and cut out 3 cookies. Lay 1 on a greased sheet pan. Fanning out at an angle, with the handles overlapping at the top, lay 2 more dreidels next to the first one (it will look like a paper-doll effect). The handle is now 3 layers thick; press on it gently to thin it slightly and make it larger. Repeat with the remaining dough, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make a hole in the handle about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the hole will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Color some of your icing blue with food coloring, or use blue colored sugar and white icing together. Using a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip, pipe Hebrew letters or stars of David on the cookies' faces. Sprinkle the sugar on the icing while the icing is still wet. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.
• To make ornaments:
• Use any holiday-themed cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the dough about 1/8 inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Meanwhile, color some of your icing in festive colors with food coloring, or use colored sugars. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders and decorations on the cookies. When set, add more lines of icing in white. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.

SNOWFLAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix granulated sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs until well blended. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour but no longer than 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 400°F. On lightly floured surface, roll about one-third of dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut with 1 1/2 to 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake about 6 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.
• In medium bowl, mix all glaze ingredients except coarse sugar crystals until smooth, glossy and pourable. Place cooled cookies together in pairs with about 1 teaspoon glaze, with points of top cookie between points of bottom cookie. Place cookies on cooling rack on cookie sheet to catch excess glaze. Pour 1 tablespoon glaze evenly over top and sides of each cookie, glazing only a few at time. When glaze is set but still soft, move cookies to another rack or waxed paper; sprinkle with sugar crystals. (Occasionally remove glaze from cookie sheet, and add a few drops of hot water as necessary to make glaze smooth and thin enough to pour; continue glazing.)
• In small bowl, mix frosting ingredients to make a frosting that can be easily drizzled or used in a decorating bag, yet holds its shape. Pipe snowflake designs on cookies. Let cookies dry completely before storing.

CHOCOLATE SNOWFLAKE COOKIES (CHOCOLATE CRINKLES / CRACKLES)

Steps:

• Combine sugar, oil, and melted chocolate in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until blended.
• Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well.
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
• Add about one-fourth of dry mixture at a time to chocolate mixture, mixing after each addition.
• Cover and let chill at least 2 hours.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls, and roll in powdered sugar.
• Place cookies 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.
• Bake at 350 degrees F.
• for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Cool on wire racks.

SNOWFLAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix well. Divide in half. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-in. snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake at 300° for 8-10 minutes or until firm. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill and reroll scraps if desired. , In a small resealable plastic bag, combine edible glitter and remaining sugar. Seal bag; crush mixture to break glitter into smaller pieces. Sprinkle over warm cookies. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.