Sugar Cookie Snowflakes

It’s week two in my Christmas Cookie series, to see last weeks click here.

Sugar cookies like shortbread are a controversial cookie. People either love them or hate them. Personally I’ve always been a fan. But I know a lot of people only like them for the icing. This recipe for sugar cookies is perfect. What makes them so good is that they are thick and soft. These cookies also have white chocolate icing. Personally I don’t enjoy royal icing and buying meringue powder annoys me. I hate having to go to specialty stores for ingredients. And buying something that will go bad before I need to use it again.

These cookies are topped with pure tempered white chocolate, sprinkles and a sugar pearl.  And I’ll let you in on a secret I decorated them in about 5 minutes using a Ziploc bag! Yep easy peasy. I don’t even own a pipping bag. I feel like I’ve broke some blogger rule by admitting that but lets get real I’m not a cake decorator so I don’t need one.

Of course today I’m sharing snowflakes with you but you could absolutely use you favourite cookie cutter and make whatever shape you love. You can also follow the same tempering method used for the white chocolate icing with milk or dark chocolate. If you want colour you could dye the white chocolate with gel food colouring (water based will cause you chocolate to separate), or even candy melts if thats your thing. The chocolate world really is your oyster! The chocolate will harden if you allow them an hour or so to set up. I like to make my cookies in advance and pop them in the freezer to store until Christmas. It’s not necessary but it will absolutely make sure that chocolate is super firm.

I really hope you enjoy these cookies, sugar cookies have always been my favourite!

Sugar Cookie Snowflakes

Yields: 18-24 cookies depending on the size of your cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Icing:

• 6 ounces White Bakers Chocolate, chopped
• Optional: sprinkles, sanding sugar and sugar pearls

In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream softened butter until pale and fluffy. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla to the bowl. Beat on high until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients on low speed until just combined.

Divide the dough in half, form dough into two disks Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F . Line to baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Roll out you first disk of dough the 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Using a snowflake cookie cutter cut your dough into shapes. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Re roll the remaining dough until it is all used. Repeat with the second disk.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until they are set and the edges are just starting to brown. My oven has hot spots so I rotate my cookies half way through to prevent over browning. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to fully cool.

Melt 4 ounces of chopped chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Once completely melted stir in the remaining 2 ounces of chopped chocolate to melt. Pour chocolate into a Ziploc bag. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before snipping on corner of the bag to act as a pipping bag. Decorate your cookies with the pipped white icing in the designs of your choosing. Finish your cookies with sanding sugar and sugar pearls if desired.

Cookies recipes adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction, icing recipe from Danielle at Home.

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