| Status Approved |
| Name | Cut Out Decorating Cookies |
| Category | Holidays, Cakes & Pastries, American |
| Serves/Yields | About 5 doz, depending on cutter size |
| Source | Kate |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Prep. Time | Start to finish about an hour |
| Cook Time | 6-8 minutes |
| Introduction |
|  This is the cookie I make at Christmas and other holidays to decorate. It's a delicious cookie and not to sweet because they are usually decorated with icing, which adds sweetness.
For a dazzling effect, tint small amounts of icing very deeply with paste food color, like blue or red. Ice the cookies with white icing and then drop dots of the colored icing in a pattern,say circles on rounds or lines on a star.Drag a toothpick through the dots to make pretty swirled effects. |
| Ingredients |
| 1 cup butter (2 cubes) softened 1 cup granulated_sugar 1 large egg 2 tsp baking_powder Pinch of salt 2 tsps vanilla_extract 1 tsp almond_extract , optional 2 3/4 cups all_purpose_flour
Cookie Icing 1 cup sifted powdered_sugar 2 Tbsps milk 2 tsp light corn_syrup Paste or liquid food color |
| Directions |
| Step: 1 | In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, egg and salt until light and fluffy.Add vanilla and blend well.
|
| Step: 2 | Combine flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture, 1 cup at a time, blending well after each addition. The dough will be stiff.Stir last flour in by hand. This dough does not need chilling.
Note:Take care not to over work the dough, that will develop the gluten to much and your cookies will be tough instead of flaky.
|
| Step: 3 | Divide dough into 2 or 3 balls.Lightly roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Dip cutters into flour before each cut. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool cookies on wire wracks. Decorate as desired.
For the cookie icing, combine all ingredients until smooth. Flow icing over cookies, let dry slightly and then add sprinkles etc. |