Decorated Sugar Cookies

I'm sharing my favorite sugar cookie and royal icing recipes today.  I first tried making decorated sugar cookies a few years ago and fell in love with the possibilities.  You can make the cutest cookies to go with any theme or occasion.  I haven't perfected the decorating techniques just yet but am always happy with the results.  I taught myself how to decorate by following blogs.  My favorite bloggers for recipes, tips, and tutorials are:

Sweet Sugarbelle
Bake at 350
Arty McGoo
Sweet Ambs

The sugar cookie recipe below comes from Sweet Sugarbelle and has been my go to for a while now and the royal icing recipe is from Bake at 350.  I just bought an IU cookie cutter on my latest trip back to Bloomington and can't wait to make some Hoosier themed cookies!

Basic Sugar Cookie

Ingredients

•  1 c. {two sticks} of REAL unsalted BUTTER, softened
•  1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar
•  1 egg
•  2-3 tsp flavoring {pick what you like, I prefer almond}
•  2 1/2-2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
•  2 tsp. baking powder
•  1 tsp. salt

Instructions

1. Cream together softened butter and confectioner’s sugar. Crack the egg into a separate bowl, and add the flavoring. I use emulsions, but extract also works well. Add that to the butter sugar mixture and mix until the egg is thoroughly incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add little by little to the mixture. I can tell the dough is ready when most of it sticks to the paddle. When I touch it, it has a little give, but does not stick to my fingers.
2. Roll out on parchment to about 1/4 an inch thick, use flour for dusting as necessary. Then, cut and bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. This version makes 2-2 1/2 dozen, doubled, it makes 4-5 dozen.

Royal Icing

Ingredients

• 4 TBSP meringue powder
  scant 1/2 c. water
  1 lb. powdered sugar
  1/2 - 1 tsp light corn syrup 
  few drops clear extract (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.
2. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)
3. Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired.
4. Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.  (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.
5. Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.

Happy baking!