Daring Bakers Challenge-September 2010- Decorated Sugar cookies.

Delectable Sugar cookies , iced  with royal icing to making them  cute and adorable and simply mouth watering.

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

The decoration of the cookies had to be on any occasion in september, we were celebrating happy summer holidays, ( cookies decorated in pastels and flower theme) exam success and back to school.cookies decorated with letters and numbers)

Sugar Cookies
Basic Sugar Cookies:

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

Ingredients:

200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten or 1 tablespoon egg replacer (I used egg replacer)
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Method:

1.Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread duringbaking, losing their shape.
2.Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid flour flying everywhere.
3. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
4.Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
5.Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
6. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
7.Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
8. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
9.Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
10. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
11.Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.
Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
12. Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
 Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.

 

 
Royal Icing:
Source: Vegetation
 
Vegan Royal  Icing:
 
3 tbsp water

2 tbsp egg replacer powder
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1.Add water to egg replacer and whip with electric beaters until it's thick.
2.Add cream of tartar and 1/2 a cup of the icing sugar and mix until thick.
3.Add another 1/2 cup of icing sugar and whip until thick again.
4.Finally add the last 3/4 of a cup icing sugar and beat until a thick icing forms. If it's too thick  add another 1/8-1/4 cup water slowly while beating until it softens.
5. Divide the mixture into two parts, keep one part white and the other part add  your chosen food colouring for decoration.

To Decorate:

1. Cover the cookies with white icing alow to set , then decorate with coloured icing.
Allow icing to dry over night.

For detailed icing tips clickPart 1  here and  Part 2 here

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