Sugar cookies with Royal Icing

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour (480 grams)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter

• 2 cups sugar (white granulated)

• 2 large eggs

• 1-2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

• Place flour, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl; sift together.

• In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy and bits of butter are consistent in size. Beat in eggs.

• Add dry ingredients (about 1/3 at a time) to butter, sugar, and egg mixture. Add in lemon juice and mix until combined.

• Place dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes. I use that time to tidy up the kitchen ;)

• Roll out dough between parchment paper (sticks less*) anywhere from 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. (*I don't like the mess of using flour, but if you prefer to roll out the dough the traditional way that's fine too.)

• Cut out the cookies using any type of cookie cutter or even a drinking glass. Transfer with butter knife to parchment lined baking sheet. **The dough gets very difficult to cut and roll out when warm. I make enough cookies for one baking sheet, then put dough back in the fridge while the batch is baking.

• Bake about 12-15 minutes.

• Cool on racks and then decorate with Royal Icing.

ROYAL ICING: MAKES ENOUGH FOR 4 DOZEN LARGE COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites (can substitute with dried egg white)

• 4 cups of powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Beat egg whites until stiff. Add sugar, one cup at a time. Add lemon juice. Beat for about 1 minute. If too thick add water, if too runny add more powdered sugar.

Allow cookie to completely cool. It's even better to let them sit overnight. Outline cookie with icing by placing icing in decorating bag and pipe on. Let the edging dry prior to filling the rest of the cookie. I have the best luck using a small teaspoon to fill the middle of the cookie to the piped edge. I used Wilton's tip size 5 for the outline, but used size 2 for the dots and hearts.

Recipe courtesy of Foodandgladness.com