During the holiday season, nothing hits the spot quite like icing-covered sugar cookies.
On a recent December afternoon, Chicago’s Community Kitchens chef instructor – and baking expert – Destane Harris, along with her student Demetrius Newman, whipped up some royal icing and shared some decorating tips as they turned their batch of snowflake, candy cane, and gingerbread man-shaped cookies into works of edible art.
To learn how to make these festive treats, watch the demonstration video and check out the recipes below:
SUGAR COOKIES
INGREDIENTS- 2 cups Sweet Cream Salted Butter (softened)
- 2 cups Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tbsp. Vanilla
- 4 tsp. Baking Powder
- 6 cups Flour (All-Purpose)
- Add butter and sugar to your mixer. Cream the butter and sugar until it is completely mixed. Do not over-mix.
- Add vanilla and eggs and mix until completely incorporated.
- Add baking powder and mix.
- Mix in the flour two cups at a time.
- Do not chill the dough, the cookies will bake better if the dough is at room temperature.
- Roll a handful of the dough out on a prepared surface until it's about 3/8" thick and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Do not over-bake.
ROYAL ICING
- 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
- 5 Tbsp. Meringue Powder
- ½ C Warm Water
- 2lbs Powdered Sugar
- 1Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
- Dissolve meringue powder into half cup of warm water, mix on medium speed for approximately 30 seconds.
- Add cream of tartar and mix for another 30 seconds.
- Add vanilla, and continue to mix on medium speed.
- Add powdered sugar all at once and start mixing on low speed. If the mixture is too thick add water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture starts to come together and becomes smooth.
- Mix for 5 minutes.
- From here, add as much water as needed to thin your icing for decorating your cookies.
