I was a little naughty last week. My Aunt Sally sent our wedding gift a couple months ago, and I’ve had it sitting in my sewing room unopened, because after all, it’s bad etiquette to open wedding presents early! However, a few days ago I was updating my bridal registry and noticed that one item had been purchased. And when I saw what it was my heart started to pitter patter.
I brought the box downstairs and set it on our kitchen counter. To open or not to open…..that was the question.
Surely taking it out of it’s cardboard prison would be acceptable. And to leave it in there would be an injustice!
Oh man! I know I need what’s in this box desperately! It would make the next few days so much less stressful, and make my baking for the bridal shower so much faster! Have you guessed what it is yet?
I’m seeing some pink!
Oh my goodness! I’m starting to get excited!
It’s my pink Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer!!!!!!!! I’m very sorry for opening your generous gift early, Aunt Sally. I thought if you knew how much I needed it this past week you’d understand. At least my wedding is less than 3 months away! 🙂
And I LOVE IT!!!! Mixing is a breeze! If you don’t have a stand mixer, I HIGHLY recommend getting one! Now, onto the cookies.
Start by putting 2 sticks of cold butter and 1 cup of sugar into your mixing bowl.
Cream together using the paddle attachment.
Next add an egg, 3/4 tsp of vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp of almond extract to the butter and sugar.
Mix until combined.
Next, add 3 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour and 2 tsp of baking powder. You might not want to add all the flour at once. Try adding it a cup at a time, and start mixing on a low speed, or else you’ll have flour all over your face and your kitchen.
Mix until thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. I didn’t take pictures while rolling out the dough and cutting out the shapes. For one, I had flour all over my hands, and the main reason is……I forgot.
So just know that you need to roll out your dough on a floured, flat surface with a floured rolling pin. Dip your cookie cutters in some flour before you press them into the dough.
Place your cut out cookie dough on some parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.
Next it’s time to make the royal icing. Clean your mixing bowl and add 4 Tbsp of meringue powder and 1 scant cup of water.
A scant cup means not quite 1 cup.
Beat meringue powder and water until nice and foamy.
Add 1 lb. (about 4 cups) of sifted powdered sugar to the bowl. Beat on low until combined.
Add 1/2 – 1 tsp of light corn syrup. Try not to notice my lovely chipping nail polish. Oh man, I just directed your attention to it, didn’t I?
Beat the icing on medium-high for about 5 minutes, or until a stiff peak forms. This is not quite stiff enough.
This is perfect! The peak should stand straight up even if you wiggle it around.
Transfer icing to bowls where you’ll add the coloring, and cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic is touching the icing. Royal icing dries really quickly so you need to make sure no air comes in contact with the icing if you’re not working with it right away.
Add some coloring with a toothpick or knife. There are several different gel colorings out there. I use Wilton brand since it’s what I have on hand.
Mix all the colors you’ll need and cover the ones you’re not using with plastic wrap.
Transfer the icing to piping bags filled about half way. Place the bags in a cup with a wet paper towel at the bottom. This will ensure that your icing doesn’t dry up at the tip when you’re not using it. Place plastic wrap over the remaining icing in your bowls.
Start outlining your cookies using a #2 tip. You’ll want to outline them in the same colors that you’ll be filling them in with.
When you’re done piping, take your remaining icing in the bowls and add water 1 tbsp at a time until it has the consistency of syrup. Place a wet paper towel over the bowls and let sit for 10 minutes to allow the air bubbles to come to the surface.
Stir the icing gently with a spatula or knife to pop all the bubbles.
Pour into a squeeze bottle.
Now you have both piping and flooding consistency icing.
After letting the piping dry for about an hour, flood the cookies with the thinned icing. You can use a toothpick to spread the icing into all the corners.
Let the cookies dry overnight, and then you can pipe on the decorative details. If you’re in a hurry, you can let the cookies dry for a couple hours and then decorate them, but since I had applied the flooding icing pretty late at night I decided to let them dry overnight.
Use the piping icing you had in your bags from before (just put the whole cup with the piping bags in the fridge until you’re ready to use them).
Above all, remember to use your creativity and have fun! This cookie and royal icing recipe can be found on Bake at 350.
Wow, you have some awesome skills! That piping and everything else, looks fabulous. Was this your first time doing all this? p.s. Love the stand mixer! I can’t wait to have one of my own one day. 🙂
Hey girl,
Yes it was my first time, other than the cookies I made for my dad and friend a couple days earlier. Thanks! You’ll be amazed how much easier mixing dough and frosting is with a stand mixer! It’s heaven! 🙂
I was just going to ask you about your sugar cookies! Love the step-by-step directions 🙂 I’m so excited to try this out! 🙂
Oh good! It’s pretty easy, just time consuming. 🙂 If you make some, be sure to post pictures!
really really beautiful….such the talent
Thanks Suzi!
Your hilarious! I love it! I constantly checked my bridal shower list to see what people bought. Cookies look good. I think I am going to see if I can find a good deal on a stand mixer. Bed Bath and Beyond matches any competitor price and they give an additional 20% off (with the coupon).
Ooh La La!! I think one would have to be an artist, as you are, to pull off such “works of art.” Your dad hasn’t eaten his cookies yet. He just keeps looking at them on the plate in the kitchen. I asked him when he was going to eat them, and if I could have one. He said, “He’d think about it!!!”
Your description of opening the mixer gift was so funny!!! Aunt Sally will enjoy that, and I’m sure she’d approve. Why am I NOT surprised that you chose PINK for your stand mixer color?! LOL Everything looked really beautiful and yummy. . .well done, honey!! 🙂
Hey, sweetie! Glad our gift was so useful to you for your first bridal shower. Don’t mind at all that you opened it early. Actually surprised you showed so much restraint NOT opening it the last couple of months. I know that was Steve’s influence. Your cookies look yummy and beautiful! I know you will get many years of pleasure using the mixer and so glad we were the ones that gited you with it. Steve will be rewarded, too, with your culinary talents. It is, after all, a wedding gift for the two of you. Love you lots, Aunt Sally
啊,好可爱呢,今天我在用GOOGLE搜索食物的时候看到你的文章呢。呵呵我是来自上海的朋友
HI ,IT IS LOVELY COOKING…….cookies are beautiful…….lovely…how much time you spend on it?IM a shanghai friend 🙂
I just studied your notes and I am going to attempt to make cookies decorated like hello kitty for Averys 4th birthday. I am sooo scared and I wish you lived closer so I could have you come help me!!!
Aww, you’ll do great! You’re super creative, so if anyone was going to attempt them and succeed, I’m sure it’s you! 🙂
I just made cookies for a bridal shower. Unfortunately, I did not find your recipe until the end. I just want to tell you that I wish I would have found yours first! That batch turned out perfect!!!!! Thanks for posting step by step instructions!!!!
Thanks for the nice compliment! I’m glad my instructions were helpful!