Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies

Christmas Lights Royal Icing Sugar Cookies

5 from 1 vote

Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies

Christmas Lights Royal Icing Sugar Cookies - a tried and true recipe for sugar cookies decorated with a simple design to look like multi-colored Christmas tree lights.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 13

Total Time 33

Servings cookies

Calories 484kcal

Author Lise Sullivan Ode

Ingredients

For the sugar cookies

6 cups all purpose flour 2 pounds
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature 1 pound
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the royal icing

16 ounces powdered sugar 1 pound
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon meringue powder
⅓ cup water, plus more if too thick see below
food coloring I used Wilton icing gel

Instructions

For the cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder & salt (measuring the flour with a scale is the most accurate). Using a whisk, stir to combine and get the lumps out. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture.
Blend until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a large piece of parchment paper. Use your hands to knead the dough for a few minutes. Divide the dough into two sections and wrap with parchment paper. Let chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
To roll dough, place another piece of parchment paper on top of dough and roll with a rolling pin until the dough is between ⅛" and ¼" thick. Cut into shapes and remove the excess dough. Don't move the shapes, leave them where they are and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until slightly golden brown around the edges. Let them cool and decorate with royal icing (or you can freeze them before decorating and keep them for several months). Makes 20 (3" cookies).

For the royal icing

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low for 6 minutes. It will be very thick and fluffy. Add 4-5 tablespoons of water and mix to combine. That's your medium consistency (it should be like toothpaste). Take half the icing and put in another bowl. Add another 1-2 tablespoons of water to that to make the thinner consistency. It should run off the spoon like Elmer's glue. That is your flood consistency. Divide and color as desired to decorate the cookies. Add medium consistency icing to a piping bag, cut a tiny tip off and pipe an outline around the outer edge of the cookies. Then fill in with flood icing. I poured my flood icing into a plastic squeeze bottle to make it easier to distribute but you could also use a piping bag, if you wish. Let dry about an hour, then add decorations with the medium consistency icing.

Notes

Note: The calorie count isn't all together accurate as you will have quite a bit of royal icing leftover and the nutrition facts give the amounts for the total ingredients in this recipe.

Nutrition