Perfect Sugar Cookies for Decorating

Everyone needs a recipe for perfect sugar cookies for decorating.

Every once in a while Dotter gets the itch to make decorated sugar cookies. This always fills my heart with warm fuzzies and my tummy with sweet treats. For a moment I lost her so I called out her name and she popped up from behind the counter.

“What doin’?”

“Oh, lookin’ for the strawberry cookie cutter.”

You see, the strawberry cookie cutter is one of the smaller cookie cutters in our collection, so it sinks way down to the bottom of the cookie-cutter drawer.

She worked all night long on this batch of cookies. Her red frosting turned out a gloriously bright color.

And her cookies? Well, simply perfection. Happy June. Happy strawberry season. Happy cookie-cutter hunting.

Cutie Strawberry Baskets

Perfect Sugar Cookies for Decorating

Cream together:

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar

Add & beat together well:

• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon almond extract or vanilla
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 1/4 cups flour

Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°F. Choose cookie cutters. Roll dough out to 1/4-inch thick using Flour Power to keep the dough from sticking to the counter. Swoosh cookie cutter in flour for easy release from dough each time you cut out a cookie. Place on a parchment-lined half sheet pan. Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Allow cookies to cool completely.

Chocolate Cookies

Change flour to 2 3/4 cups and add 1/4 cup Hershey’s dark cocoa powder.

Flour Power

Whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 cup flour then sprinkle on the counter & rolling pin to roll the cookies. This keeps the dough from sticking to the counter and prevents flour-bottomed cookies!

Royal Icing

• 3 tablespoons meringue powder or egg white powder
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons warm water
• 1 tablespoon almond extract or vanilla

Using the beater attachment, slowly beat all ingredients together until the powdered sugar is incorporated. Then turn the mixer on high until the icing forms stiff peaks (about 7-10 minutes). This is important. Colors are more likely to run together if you miss this step.

Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.

Using a decorating bag, Outline areas of cookie you want to fill in. 

To fill in the outlines on your cookie, add a little water to the color you are working with to thin it down a bit. Add the water slowly so you don’t end up with icing that is too runny & dripping out of the bag on its own. Don’t ask me how I know this can happen. I just do. Lift the knife or spoon you’re stirring with and let the frosting drip back into the bowl. If it blends into the frosting already in the bowl, you’ve added enough water.

Fill in the centers of the edging with thinned icing. Start near the insides of the edges you created earlier. This will make for a cleaner look.

Be sure not to overfill so the thinned frosting doesn’t go over the edges. Again, don’t ask me how I know. I just do.

If you’d like to add polka-dots for other touches and want them to settle into the thinned frosting, you can add them right away or you can use the stiff icing for any additional touches you’d like to stand out after the thinned icing has a chance to firm up.

Royal icing needs to sit for several hours. It’s easiest to just let them dry overnight before packaging or stacking. A fan is your best friend because it not only allows for quicker drying, but faster drying keeps colors from having a chance to run together.