Holiday Swirled Sugar Cookies

 

These cookies look pretty similar to the ones I saw on the Food Network site, and were a big hit at a Cookie Swap I attended last week. In typical ME fashion, I tried a new recipe to make cookies for the swap and this was also my first time working with Royal frosting.

But it’s all good.  Everyone asked how I did the cool swirl and we all thought they were quite tasty.  I squirreled away more of the cookies that I brought than any other cookie on the table.  I can be selfish, right?  Everyone was so full from the dinner we had that I don’t think they noticed.  LOL!!

One of the reasons the cookies were so good was that I used  Thrive Foods Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix . What a time saver!

Still experiencing technical difficulties with the recipe format, so enjoy the old school way!

 

Ingredients:

COOKIES:

Thrive Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix, pantry can

2 T. flour

3/4 c. butter

1 egg

2 T. water

 

ROYAL ICING:

1 lb. powdered sugar

2 T. meringue powder

Red and Green gel food coloring

White sugar sprinkles

 

Instructions:

  1. Follow the directions on the can of cookie mix, adding the 2 T. of flour to the dry cookie mix (for rolled and cut cookies).
  2. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour*.
  3. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. Generously dust your work surface with powdered sugar and roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thick.
  5. Cut cookie dough with a 2-inch round cookie cutter, re-rolling scraps and cutting more cookies.
  6. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
  7. Refrigerate cookies until firm, about 1 hour.
  8. Place oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. on Convection bake (350 degrees for regular oven).
  9. Bake the cookies, rotating the pans halfway through, until lightly browned around the edges, 9-11 minutes.  Cool completely on cookie sheets.
  10. For the Royal Icing: combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl.  Add 7 T. water and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, adding up to 8 T. of water  if necessary to make a smooth icing that thickly coats the back of a spoon.
  11. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set a cooling rack on top.
  12. Put 1/4 c. icing into each of 2 small bowls.  Add 9 drops red food coloring to one bowl, stirring until evenly combined. Add 2 drops of green food coloring to the second bowl and stir until evenly combined.
  13. Pour the remaining white icing into a clean, rimmed baking sheet and spread or shake evenly to coat it.  Drizzle the red icing over the white, then the green icing.
  14. One at a time, put the cookies face-down into the icing, taking the cookies out one at a time, shaking gently to let excess icing drip off.
  15. Place cookies right side up on the prepared cooling rack. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired.
  16. Let icing harden completely before serving, about an hour.

 

Note: you can place the dough in the freezer if you are short on time.  That’s what I had to do!

Source: adapted from Food Network.

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