Sugar Cookies

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

And I love Valentine’s day because I love hearts and red and pink and glitter and cheesy cards and chocolate and wine and food and love and kisses and I love having a reason to give and receive all of the aforementioned things.

So I made some sugar cookies in honor of this fabulous day. Skeleton Sugar Cookies. This is the cookie cutter I used, I found it at my local Artist and Craftsman Supply! BUT the dough recipe that came with the cutter is spot on and a great basic sugar cookie dough so I thought I’d share the love.Here’s what you’ll need to make a great sugar cookie dough that you can do anything with, really, anything, go crazy:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set to the side. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add in the flour mix. Mix until completely combined.

Split the dough in half and roll out to desired thickness. I placed both sheets of dough onto a baking sheet layered with parchment paper and then placed them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Take one sheet of dough out at a time and cut into desired shapes. When you only have awkward pieces left, don’t just eat it, roll that extra dough out again to desired thickness and rotate it out with the sheet waiting in the refrigerator. (I like to make a couple crazy cookies to be sacrificed to the icing process, to test the thickness and color of my icing… and also to eat…)

Place cookies on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown slightly.

If you plan on decorating them, let them cool a bit while you make some Royal Icing:

2 egg whites

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

3 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

(food coloring if you want a color other than white!)

Beat egg whites and lemon juice until combined. Add powdered sugar and beat on low until combined and smooth. Take an ugly cookie and test it out, if it makes a break for the edge of your cookie and dribbles over the side, you might need to add a little more sugar, if it feels too thick add a little water.

Good luck, have fun, get crazy,

XO

Charleston Spice Co.