Description
Delicious and festive vanilla cutout cookies, perfect for any occasion!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tsp meringue powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3–4 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp gel food coloring (forest green)
- 2 drops gel food coloring (electric green)
- 2 drops gel food coloring (turquoise)
- assorted sprinkles and sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Make the vanilla cookie dough and bake the cookies as instructed, using any size/shape of cookie cutters you like. (Tip: don’t roll the dough any thinner than 1/4 inch. Thinner cookies are more difficult to dip into the icing.)
- Handle the baked cookies gently; let cool completely before decorating.
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
- Add the extract and 3 tbsp of water. Add the food coloring.
- Whisk the icing until smooth and drizzly, adding more water as needed, a teaspoon at a time. The icing is the right consistency when it drizzles off the spoon back into the bowl of icing and disappears within about 7 seconds.
- Hold a cookie by its edge and dip the top of the cookie into the icing. Lightly shake off the excess, then turn the cookie upright, setting it back onto the baking sheet.
- The icing will settle and smooth out on top of the cookie within several seconds, but if you need to, you can use a toothpick to neaten or smooth out any uneven spots, or to pop any air bubbles.
- Let the icing set for about 30 seconds before adding sprinkles or sugar. If you do it too soon, the sprinkles will sink, but if you wait too long, the icing will crust over and the sugar won’t stick.
- I recommend dipping 3-4 cookies at a time, and then decorating those cookies, before dipping more cookies. Keep the bowl of icing covered while you’re decorating the iced cookies, so the surface doesn’t crust over.
Notes
- Ensure the cookies are completely cooled before decorating.
- Adjust the water in the icing for desired consistency.
- Use a variety of food colors for a festive look.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 100
- Sugar: 15g
- Sodium: 30mg
- Fat: 2g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg