What screams Valentine’s Day more than roses?!
Simply put, these are the most divine sugar cookies EVER! After some tweaking, I am so happy to have the PERFECT sugar cookie recipe. They are delicious, they don’t spread which makes them perfect for decorating, and they are soft! Not to mention they are heavenly, fragrant, floral goodness. The delicate rose flavor is subtle but truly elevates the cookie. My recipe is simple but requires time and decorating requires patience, especially if this is your first time.
So let’s get to it!
Sugar Cookie Recipe
This recipe is super easy, but MAKE THE DOUGH A DAY IN ADVANCE! They need 12-24 HOURS to chill before baking! I get about 15-25 cookies from one batch. It all depends on what thickness you make the dough and how big your cookie cutter shapes are – I like to make mine thick (~3/8 of an inch).
Things You’ll Need
- Mixer (I use the Kitchen Aid stand mixer)
- Rolling pin
- Rowel rods – I use these to get an even thickness on my dough when I roll it out. I buy the 3/8 inch ones from Hobby Lobby.
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1¼ cup powdered sugar (since there will also be royal icing I like to make the cookie less sweet. If you want plain sugar cookies though, I recommend 1½ cups)
- 1 cup of butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp rose water ( I love rose-flavored anything, but if you’re not sure, try 1/4 tsp first and see how you feel. You can also omit completely or experiment with your own flavorings like lemon, almond, chocolate, etc.)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- A pinch of salt
Directions
- In your standing mixer, add your softened butter and powdered sugar and mix them till evenly combined
- In a separate bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt
- Next, add you egg, vanilla, and rose flavoring to your butter and sugar mixture and beat until nice and fluffy
- Add your flour/baking powder/salt mixture and mix until just incorporated. If you hold the dough between your fingers and it doesn’t stick, it’s ready
- With a layer of parchment or wax paper on your counter turn out your dough and cover it with another layer of paper.
- NOTE: Some people like to roll their dough out between 2 layers of plastic wrap, but I have found that the plastic wrinkles and puts dents on the surface of the cookie. You want as flat of a cookie surface as possible for the best results with the royal icing.
- Place dowel rods on either side of your dough and roll the dough out to that thickness
- Once rolled, put it in the fridge for at least 12-24 HOURS! I know this is a lot, but trust me, sugar cookie dough needs a lot of time to chill. This step is crucial in getting crisp edges and preventing your cookies from spreading in the oven and losing their shape. Some recipes require no chill, but that has not worked for me, personally.
- After chilling, preheat your oven to 350ºF
- Remove your dough from the fridge and cut into whatever shapes you want.
- If you have extra dough and need to re-roll it to make more cookies, go ahead but chill the dough again for 10-15 minutes before cutting it. I find that if I don’t re-chill the dough that it cracks when baking.
- Once cut, place cookies on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in fridge for 10 more minutes (I just like to do this to ensure my edges are chilled well)
- Bake your cookies for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms are slightly golden. I recommend started with 8 minutes and seeing if more baking time is needed; each oven is different
- Allow your cookies to cool completely before icing them
Royal Icing Recipe
Thing’s You’ll Need
- Stand mixer
- Spray bottle
- Plastic icing bags
- #2 Piping tip (I use the Ateco brand)
Ingredients
- 1LB, or 4 cups or powdered sugar
- 3 TBS meringue powder
- 6 TBS water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (if you want the whitest of white royal icing, you can use the clear imitation vanilla or vanilla powder. I personally like using natural extract because I don’t feel like it affects the color too much and I prefer the flavor)
- gel food color (MUST BE GEL!! royal icing is a finicky thing and gel coloring is best in preserving the texture and thickness of the icing; it also colors things way better)
Directions:
*****Watch my Instagram “Cookie Decorating” Highlight to see me doing these steps!
- Add powdered sugar to mixing bowl and give it a quick mix to break up any clumps
- Measure 6 TBS of water into a cup and add your meringue powder. Mix till frothy.
- Add the vanilla to your meringue mixture
- With the mixer on medium, slowly add you meringue mixture to your powdered sugar.
- Once incorporated, turn the mixer up to high for ~3 minutes until your meringue for a stiff peak.
- Now you have your white royal icing base
- Divide your icing into bowls based on how many colors you want, from here you can carefully add your colorings until you’ve reached your desired hues.
- Thinning out your icing
- For OUTLINE CONSISTENCY: add water a few sprays at a time until you reach the point where when you lift your spoon, the icing dips off of it slightly – like a birds beak
- For FLOODING CONSISTENCY: add more water until if flows more like honey and disappears into the bowl within ~5 second
- Bag them up and you’re ready to start decorating your cookies! For the outline icing, I use a #2 Ateco tip; with the flooding icing you can just cut a small hole in the bag.
Icing Your Sugar Cookies
- Start by allowing a little bit of outline icing to come out of the bag. Carefully touch the cookie and lift up, gently and with equal pressure. Continue, with the bag held up, to trace the outline of your cookie with the icing until you have made it back to your starting point.
- Next, with your flooding icing, fill in the entire cookie
- Quickly, and before it dries, with a toothpick or scribe tool (I use the Thing- A- Ma- Genie) swirl the icing. Make sure to cover every part of the cookies surface and to evenly distribute the icing.
- Give the cookie a small shake NOTE: if you wish to add sprinkles do so now before the surface of the cookie dries. You may also try to decorate your cookies with polka dots, heart, etc)
- Let dry for at least 8 HOURS
- Enjoy!
Be sure to show me your beautiful designs! Here are some I was inspired to make myself.
XOXO,
Monica
