Christmas Sugar Cookies with Glaze Icing

Every year our family has a Christmas party with all of my Grandpa's family. His brothers and sisters and all their kids, grandkids, and now even great grandkids, get together to eat, dance, and take tons of pictures. It's such a nice gathering and tradition that we all love. We always make my Grandma's classic cookies (which I'm planning to share soon) and I also made these Christmas shaped sugar cookies.

As you know, I love making cutout cookies so much. I have made many shapes, sizes, and kinds, but the materials are generally the same, sugar cookies + royal icing= decorated sugar cookies. Now I love this formula for making decorated sugar cookies, but I will admit when making a large batch of say, 100 cookies or so, it can be time consuming. And though I do enjoy taking the time to decorate, design, and be creative sometimes you don't have as much time to dedicate to decorating. So here comes the perfect solution for quicker cookie decorating that is still terribly cute. Instead of royal icing or fondant, try this glaze icing. It's so very simple and looks great. It hardens to a stackable point, similar to royal icing, but not quite as stiff. Give it a try next time you are pinched for time or just want to try a new kind of decorating.


For our What's Baking challenge for December, Jenna from Jenna's Cooking Journey, chose Christmas traditions and there is nothing more Christmas to me and my family than Christmas  family parties and cookies. Enjoy these Christmas cut-out cookies with glaze icing.

Also I know I'm little behind but Merry Christmas to all of you and I hope that 2014 brings many blessings to you!

Cookie Dough:

1 cup sugar
2 sticks butter, cut into cubes
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup
2 tbsp milk or water
1 tsp clear extract (vanilla or almond)
green gel food dye
sprinkles/sugar crystals


1. Cream butter and sugar on high until well mixed. Add in egg and extracts and continue to beat.

2. Slowly add in dry ingredients while mixing. Remember to scrape down sides of the bowl.

3. Knead the dough briefly and roll out on a floured surface. Cut into your desired shape using cookie cutters.

4. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake in 350 degree oven for 9-11 minutes, until very slightly golden brown.

5.  Set cookies on racks to cool while making glaze.

6. Mix powdered sugar, corn syrup, and milk in a bowl. If your glaze is too thick, add 1 tsp more milk or water and if it becomes to too thin add some powdered sugar.  (For candy canes and Christmas trees, make one batch regular white glaze and a second batch with green dye)

7. To decorate, put glaze in ziploc or piping bag and cover cookies with glaze and use a utensil to help spread and smooth out glaze. Use festive sprinkles or sugar crystal to decorate if desired. Let glaze set up on baking racks until fully dry and hardened.


Source: Bake at 350 and Baked Bree

Christmas Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies on Jersey Bites

Check out this Christmas Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies I shared over on Jersey Bites. They are peanut butter cookies with a peanut butter buttercream squished in the middle! I used a cookie press insert and sugar crystals to make the design on the cookies. Hope you enjoy these and have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Spiced Brown Sugar Cookies- The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013

I recently participated in my first ever food blogger cookie swap. I found it from other bloggers who had participated in past years and was thrilled to be a part of this fun event! So basically, everyone makes a huge batch of a favorite cookie recipe to total 3 dozen cookies. These cookies get divided into three packages of one dozen cookies each and then sent to three different people. Therefore each participant gets to receive three packages of cookies from other bloggers! Isn't that a great Christmas treat to surprise you on your doorstep?

I had the joy of getting cookies from three lovely, talented bakers all across the US (literally... Florida, Texas, and Cali) and each one was unique and delicious! Here's a quick peek at what I got in the mail this past week....

First cookie delivery- A medley of Christmas cookies from Laurie at Food is Love. I had the pleasure of enjoying red and green velvet cookies, banana split cookies, and caramel brownie cookies. It was such a nice surprise after a long day to come to these on my doorstep!

Second cookie delivery- Delicious Rugelach from Emily at Totes Delishy. These were my mom's favorite! She tasted them and tried to steal them all! These were waiting for me in the morning so I decided they could count as a special breakfast treat!

Third cookie delivery-  Peanut Butter Cup cookies from Diana at Life Tastes So Good. Peanut butter cups are one of my all time favorite foods so needless to say, I was a big fan of these cookies! They made for a perfect snow day snack!

Now finally onto the cookies I shared for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! I made these spiced brown sugar cookies which were similar to a snickerdoodle mixed with a cinnamon-gingersnap cookie. And they were so good! 

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter, softened

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

Green and red sugar crystals

1. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and continue to beat. 

2. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a separate bowl.  Slowly add dry mix while beating on low.

3. Wrap ball of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Take out of fridge and roll into balls then flatten with your hand. These cookies retain their shape well.

4. Place on parchment lined sheet and sprinkle with red and green sugar crystals. Bake on 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow a few minutes to set on baking sheet and them remove to cool.

Adapted from : Annie's Eats