Christmas Baking: Sugar Cookie Tutorial

Who has their baking done?

I started with these Sugar Cookies.

I kind of went all out.  This is a terrific tutorial, because it explains about the two different kinds of icing.  Outlining icing should be the consistency of toothpaste, and flood icing should be the consistency of shampoo.  That analogy really helped me, because I usually don't measure much when I make icing; I just go by what it looks and feels like.

First, make a batch of white royal icing.  You will need: powdered sugar, milk, meringue powder, vanilla, and food coloring. I used gel food coloring.  Meringue powder and Wilton's gel food coloring can all be found in the wedding aisle at Wal-Mart.

I just start with a few cups of powdered sugar, a 1/2 t. vanilla, 2 T. meringue powder, and 1 T. at a time of milk until it's the right consistency. I use a hand-mixer to make it fluffy and smooth.

Once you have your big batch of white icing, you can separate and color it to fit your needs.  It was kind of a complicated process (like I said, I had time that day), but I make a batch of red and a batch of green, put it into squeeze bottles, and got to outlining.

Make sure you let them dry!

To make flood icing, you water down the outlining icing left in the bottles.  I used almond milk for this.  I had to actually whisk it together in a bowl to make it smooth.  Then, pour it back into your squeeze bottles (remember: consistency of shampoo).  Squeeze some onto your cookies and spread with a butter knife or icing spatula.  

It works best if you use a cooling rack, so mistakes can dribble right down.

Then, you need to let these dry for about 24 hours before you do anything else to them.  

Then you need to let these dry for about 24 hours.  The next day, I added a little decoration.

After they all dried for another day, I packed them in single layers in freezer bags and stuck them in the freezer.  Hopefully they travel well!

Also, I made Molasses Crinkles, Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti, Homemade Peppermint Patties, and some fudge I'll share soon.

Here's some other recipes I HIGHLY recommend if you're looking for a sweet holiday treat.

Eggnog Bread

Oreo Peppermint Creams

Salted Chocolate Walnut Fudge

Sugar Cookie Fudge

Chocolate Peppermint CakePops

Cranberry Eggnog CakePops

Apricot Squares

Peanut Butter Blossoms/Hershey's Kiss Cookies

What are you baking?  What's your favorite must-make every year?