Winter Wonderland Cookies

These simple and beautiful Winter Wonderland Cookies are perfect for any winter holiday or party!

Here in California we still have lots of sunshine… but I can dream of snow with these cute cookies!

One of my favorite things about this set of cookies is that it only requires a few icing colors and some very simple techniques to create a fun and engaging collection!

And although these cookies would be adorable for Christmas, they’d also be perfect for any winter holiday or party… all the way into January.

Let’s decorate and dream of snow together!

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Winter Wonderland Cookies Decorating Instructions –

Start with a batch of my Perfect Sugar Cookies.

For this set you’ll need some round cookies (large and mini), some snowflakes and a simple tree (I used a mini tree cutter from Ecrandal, but I do not see it on their site currently).

Prepare a batch of Royal Icing. 

For this set, I made…

Pale blue icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency

Lime green icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency

Medium-dark green icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency

White icing with a #1.5 tip, piping consistency

White icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency

You’ll also need white non-pareils sprinkles and white and/or light blue snowflake sprinkles (optional)

I’m trying something new and sharing the decorating process with a video, in place of step-by-step photos.

I’d love your feedback as to which you prefer (photos or video).  Please don’t say “both”… I’m only human!  =)

Enjoy this short video for the step-by-step decorating tutorial…

A few additional decorating notes…

For the large round cookies (the tree scene), the trees should be added immediately after the cookie has been “flooded” with the white and blue icing.

For the mini trees, (pictured in this post, but not show in the video) the same technique (called “wet-on-wet”) should be used.

For the snowflakes, outline and flood the cookies, then allow to dry (1-4 hours) before adding the white details.

How to Make Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

Make the perfect sugar cookies topped with yummy icing that can be used so in many ways!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 11 minutes mins

Total Time 41 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 24

Calories 240 kcal

Ingredients

 

Perfect Sugar Cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt good quality
• 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg large
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract good quality, see flavor options in notes

Royal Icing

• 4 tablespoons meringue powder
• 4 cups powdered sugar about 1 pound
• 6 tablespoons warm water to start

Instructions

 

Perfect Sugar Cookies

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes.
• Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.
• Add the flour mixture slowly. (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)
• Blend until all of the flour is incorporated. The mixture will look crumbly at first but just keep blending until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
• Remove about half of the dough from the bowl and knead by hand just a bit to form a smooth ball. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, or onto a piece of plastic wrap (as described in detail in the blog post above).
• Cut out cookies into desired shapes and place entire baking sheet of unbaked cookies into the freezer for 5 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F and bake cookies in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies.
• The cookies are baked when then are no longer shinny on top, but they will not show much of any change in color.
• Cool on baking sheet just a minute or so, then carefully move to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool fully before decorating.

Royal Icing

• Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
• Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring .
• Add additional water, about 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the consistency you need.

Notes

Sugar Cookies

I HIGHLY recommend using a large stand mixer to mix up the dough, if at all possible. It is possible to mix up the recipe with a hand-held mixer, but it will take a lot more hand kneading to combine all of the flour.

Be sure to omit the additional salt if you are using salted butter in the recipe.

Flavoring options - Feel free to add your choice of fresh citrus zest (1-2 teaspoons), or add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon almond extract in addition to the vanilla extract listed.

If you prefer a more crisp cookie, simply bake an extra minute or two.

Baked cookies will remain fresh at least one week (stored in a Tupperware type container, or individually wrapped).

Baked cookies can be successfully frozen for a month or more. Layer baked cookies in a Tupperware type container with parchment paper between layers of cookies. Thaw cookies at room temperature before decorating. I do not recommend freezing the cookies after they've been decorated.

Royal Icing

Make sure all bowls and utensils are totally grease-free or your icing will never reach proper consistency.

Nutrition

Calories: 240kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 2gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 55mgPotassium: 29mgFiber: 1gSugar: 28gVitamin A: 246IUCalcium: 15mgIron: 1mg

Keyword royal icing, sugar cookies

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Happy winter cookie decorating!

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