sugar cookies

Count Down To Easter

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Eclectic Egg Cookies

Eclectic Egg Cookies

 Cookies:

  • 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 2 ½ sticks (1/2 pound plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoons almond extract
  • ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 ¾ cups all- purpose flour

 Frosting:

  • 4 large pasteurized egg whites
  • ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoons almond extract
  • 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 to 6 teaspoons milk, if needed
  • Food coloring gel – spring colors
  • Desired decorations

 For the cookies: In a large bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat the powdered sugar, butter egg yolks, salt almond extract, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the flour and beat on low speed until large clumps of dough form. The dough will look too dry at first, so be patient. Pour the dough clumps onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Gather into a ball & flatten into a disk. Cover with a second sheet of plastic wrap and roll to 1/8 inch thickness. It will be a very large piece of dough. Slide onto a rimmed baking sheet to keep the dough flat and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Discard the plastic wrap. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Stamp out cookies with cutters of your choice. Simple shapes with clean edges work best. Arrange the cookies on the lined baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden brown on the edges, 12-15 minutes, depending on size. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet.

For the frosting: In a large glass or metal bowl, with electric mixer at low speed, beat the egg whites until frothy. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract. With the mixer running, add the powder sugar 1 cup at a time. Beat on low speed until smooth Increase the speed to high and beat until still, shiny peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Decorate the cookies as desired.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies depending on size & shape

 Tested in the THASC kitchen. Photo by THASC.

 THASC is a unique small American business producing cards and other promotional products.

www.thasc.com

 

After School Treats

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Alien CookiesPirate And Alien Cookies

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 3 tablespoons hot water
  • 4 drops green food coloring
  • 5 licorice allsorts, thinly sliced
  • 20 jelly beans, halved
  • 5 gummy candies, cut into 4 pieces

To make the cookies, beat the butter, sugar and egg with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the flour. Using your hands, press the mixture together to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 2 minutes or until smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a large baking sheet with melted butter or oil.  Roll out the dough between sheets of waxed paper to ¼ inch thick.  Cut into shapes, using cutters. Put the cookies on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.  Leave to cook. Stir the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl.  Add the water and food coloring, and stir well.  Dip the front of each cookie into the frosting. While the frosting is still soft, decorate the cookies with the candies. Makes   10

Tested in the THASC kitchen. Photo by THASC.

THASC is a unique small American business producing cards and other promotional products.

www.thasc.com

Christmas In July

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Decorated Sugar CookiesDecorated Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup butter or margarine, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all- purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoons salt
  • Royal icing

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl; add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well. Combine flour, soda and salt; add to creamed mixture, blending well. (Dough will be very stiff.) Divide dough into thirds; roll each portion to 1/8- inch thickness on lightly floured waxed paper. Cut with desired cutters, and place 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 deg. For 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Spoon red Royal icing into a pastry bag fitted with a No. 3 round tip, and pipe outlines on cookies. Fill in between outlines by piping green connecting stars, using a No. 16 or No. 18 metal tip. Let icing dry. Yield: about 5 dozen.

Royal Icing:

  • 3 egg whites
  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
  • Red and green paste food coloring

Beat egg whites (at room temperature) and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl at medium speed of an electric mixer until foamy; gradually add sugar, mixing well. Beat 5 to 7 minutes. Tint one- fourth of icing red; tint remaining icing green. Yield icing for about 5 dozen cookies. Note: Icing dries very quickly; keep covered at all times with plastic wrap. Food coloring may be substituted or omitted if icing is used for other cookie recipes.

Tested in the THASC kitchen. Photo by THASC.

THASC is a unique small American business producing cards and other promotional products.

www.thasc.com

Celebrating St. Paddy’s Day

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St. Patrick's Day Sugar Cookies

St. Patrick’s Day Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. almond extract
  • 3-4 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. salt

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Beat until combined. Add the salt and 3 cups of flour; beat until dough is smooth. If the dough is sticky (meaning when you touch it and pull your fingers away the dough sticks to you), add more flour a tbsp. at a time until it is no longer sticky. Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking. Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you can sprinkle the unbaked cookies with sparkling sugar. Bake the cookies for about 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes and remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Icing:

  • 1-2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp. milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. almond extract
  • 1 tsp. light corn syrup.
  • Green food coloring

In a bowl, mix 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 tbsp. milk, vanilla, almond extract, corn syrup and 1 or 2 drops of food coloring. Add additional milk or sugar until desired consistency is reached. Add additional food coloring if needed to reach desired color. Completely cool cookies before frosting.

Tested in the THASC kitchen. Photo by THASC.

THASC is a unique small American business producing cards and other promotional products.

www.thasc.com

Halloween Time

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Surprise Cherry Cookies

Surprise Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 package sugar cookie mix
  • 24 whole red maraschino cherries with stems, drained and patted dry
  • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • 5 tsp. milk
  • 1/8 tsp. almond extract
  • 1 tbsp. rainbow candy sprinkles

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare cookie dough according to package directions. Shape dough into 24 balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap around each cherry, covering completely and sealing edges. Place dough balls into 2 lightly greased (12-cup) miniature muffin pans. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12 minutes or until lightly browned and just firm. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cook completely. Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and almond extract until smooth, adding additional milk if necessary, for desired glaze consistency. Spoon glaze onto each cookie, top with candy sprinkles.

Tested in the THASC kitchen. Photo by THASC.

THASC is a unique small American business producing cards and other promotional products.

www.thasc.com

Getting Ready for the Fourth of July

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Marshmallow Ice Cream Cone Cookies

Marshmallow Ice Cream Cone Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 package (about 16 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
  • 6 ice cream sugar cones, broken into pieces
  • 1 container (about 16 oz.) white frosting
  • 1 package (about 10 oz.) colored miniature marshmallows
  • Colored sprinkles

Method:

Let dough stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place sugar cones in food processor. Process using on/off pulsing action until finely ground. Combine dough and sugar cones in large bowl, beat until well blended. Shape dough into 3 equal balls. Pat each ball into 9 inch circle on lightly floured surface. Cut each circle into 6 wedges, place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. While cookies are still warm, score crisscross pattern into cookies. Cool on cookie sheets 5 minutes. Remove cookies to wire racks, cool completely. Spread 2 inch strip of frosting at wide end of each cookie. Press marshmallows into frosting, top with sprinkles.

Makes 1 ½ dozen cookies

Tested in the THASC kitchen. Photo by THASC.

THASC is a unique small American business producing cards and other promotional products.

www.thasc.com