In celebration of NATIONAL SUGAR COOKIE DAY, 2010

SUGAR & MERINGUE PRESENTS

cookies FoR a
�use

A collection of Sugar Cookie Recipes, Decorating

& Packaging Ideas From Your Favorite “Baker Bloggers”

1
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 In celebration of NATIONAL SUGAR COOKIE DAY, 2010
July 9, National SugaR COOkie Day
How cool is that? A whole day set aside to observe the food I'm
most passionate about baking!

No one seems to know how National Sugar Cookie Day got

started or why it's celebrated on July 9th every year, but why
waste an opportunity to showcase this most versatile and
delicious of cookies?

Since I'm a "Sugar Cookie" blogger - I've tried, over the past
couple of years to come up with some clever ways to celebrate
this happy day but all I could come up with was a Flickr® group
and a little decorating contest on my blog, along with a call for
other bloggers to recognize the holiday on their blog.

Click Here to Donate

to The Great American Bake Sale
This year – I wanted to do something a little more fun, interesting
and meaningful. I decided to call on some of my favorite, most
talented baking friends and bloggers and ask them to send me
their best sugar cookie recipes, decorating ideas, packaging
ideas and supply sources. I've compiled all of their beautiful
work into this little book.

The cause ?
To make National Sugar Cookie Day an even happier holiday for
everyone – I've added donation buttons to several pages. Clicking
these buttons will allow you to donate to "The Great American
Bake Sale" (Share Our Strength) a national organization that
"works hard to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry."
This book is free but if you're enjoying the ideas and recipes it
offers I hope you'll do what you can to make sure needy kids get
some healthy food (and maybe even a few sugar cookies!).

Thanks & enjoy!!

Emily
Artwork Courtesy of Cakespy
Making Perfect Rolled Sugar Cookies
Top Ten Secrets from The Constant Baker 6

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Sugar and Meringue's Favorite Recipe 9

How To Flood Cookies Using Royal Icing

Top Ten Tips from Sweetopia 10

Easy Button cut-outs

from Sugar and Meringue 12

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Sugar Cookies 13

Science Cookies
From Not No Humble Pie 14

Obi Wan & Anakin Lego Cookies

From Sugar and Meringue 16

How To Paint Cookies

From Bake it Pretty 18

ARtwork by cakespy on pages 4, 7 and back cover!

 “Rolling out sugar cookie dough can be tricky business if you don’t

Making Perfect Rolled Sugar Cookies do it frequently. The following are some tips for you to keep in
mind to make your project perfect!" – The Constant Baker

Top Ten Secrets from THe Constant Baker

Dough that is too cold will crack and be difficult to roll. Be sure your
1 dough yields to the touch but is not squishy and soft.

It’s best to roll one small piece of chilled dough at a time. It’s easier to
2 handle and you can keep the balance of the dough refrigerated.

When rolling out your cookies, use a lightly floured silicon baking mat.
3 The cutter isn’t sharp enough to cut it like a knife will, and you won’t add
much flour to your dough which can make it “tough”.

4 If you are cutting dough with a cutter that has fine detail, roll the dough
on parchment paper that you can slide directly on your cookie sheet.
You can carefully remove the scraps and your cookies will not need to
be transferred thus avoiding mangling your cut cookie.

5 If your design has an opening in the center, follow the instructions on line 4.

When rolling your dough, be sure to give it a quarter turn to ensure an

6 even thickness.

7 If the dough becomes too soft while rolling, slide your rolled out dough
onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate it for 5-10 minutes.

8 To prevent dough from sticking to the cutter, dip it in a shallow bowl

filled with flour. Tap to remove excess flour.

Place dough scraps on a piece of plastic wrap and squeeze them

9 together gently. Chill for 5-10 minutes. No need to smooth the dough;
your rolling pin will do the job for you.

10 The baking time of rolled cookies varies depending on their size. Be

sure to group cookies of similar sizes on your pans before baking. 6
6
Artwork Courtesy of Cakespy

7
 Candy Button Molds, Bake it Pretty
8
Rolled SugaR COOkies
from Sugar & Meringue

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream butter, shortening and sugar until "fluffy".
Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix well.
Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until well mixed.
Chill (for at least 2 hours).
Roll dough to 1/4" thickness and cut with desired shape cookie cutter.
Bake at 375º for 6 - 8 minutes or until very lightly browned.

Decorating Techniques using Royal

Icing shown on pages 10 & 11

9
 How to Flood Cookies Using Royal Icing

sweetopia.net
Top Ten Tips from Sweetopia

1 Use a good icing recipe. This is one Sweetopia likes from Antonia 74

Royal icing
6oz. (3/4 cup) warm water
5 tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kilogram (2 1/4 pounds) powdered icing sugar

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder.
Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about
30 seconds.
Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.
Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the
mixer.
Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly
for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.
Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting
and drying.
Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of
warm water to reach the desired consistency. 10
10
 One of the most important things I’ve learned about cookie decorating is that if your icing isn’t at
2 the correct consistency or thickness, the experience can be very frustrating. The trick I use to make
sure my icing is just right is called the “10 second rule”.
Drag a butter knife through the surface of your royal icing and count to 10. If the icing surface
becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then your icing is ready to use. If it takes
longer than approximately 10 seconds, the icing is too thick. Slowly add more water. If your icing
surface smoothes over in less than 5-10 seconds, it is too runny. Mix your icing longer or slowly add
more sifted icing sugar to thicken.

For tip sizes, my favorite tip is #2; it’s great for outlining and filling in. For larger
3 cookies use tip #3 or #4 and for smaller cookies use tip #1.

4 Seal the top end of your piping bag closed with an elastic band for less mess.

Practice piping on your work surface or parchment paper before you begin your cookies, so that
5 your hand gets the feel of it. I usually find I need a few minutes of playing around before my piping
improves. Decorate your least favorite cookies or extra cookies first; that way if you make a mistake
it won’t matter as much!

When you’re outlining the cookie, about a centimeter in begin lifting

6 the piping bag away from the cookie, so that the icing just falls onto the
surface. You’ll be able to control your piping easier that way.

If your hand is shaky, rest your arm on the edge of your work surface while decorating.
7

After you’ve finished applying the icing to the cookie, shake it gently to help settle the bumps.
8

If you notice any small air bubbles, pop them with a toothpick or pin right away. If you don’t, the air
9 bubble usually pops on it’s own and leaves a hole in your icing.

Let your cookies dry for at least 24 hours before you package them. They won’t get stale as the icing
10 acts as a sealant for freshness.
11
11
 Downloa
ee d

wnload • Fr

• Fr
Vintage
Button

ee Dow
Card
(PDF)

Do

n
loa
d • Free

EASY BUTTON CUT-OUTS Fun Ways to Present

Your Sugar Cookies:
1. Add food coloring to rolled sugar cookie dough • Put them on a pretty vintage
2. Roll and cut with a circle cutter (1 3/4" - 2" diameter) plate - you can usually find
them at garage sales, flea
3. Poke holes with a toothpick (make them a little bigger markets and the like for
than you'd think they should be) a couple of dollars. When
giving cookies as a gift the
4. Use a smaller circle cutter to mark an inner circle plate then becomes a part
5. Bake (as directed by recipe) of the gift - an eco-friendly
option!
6. Use bakers twine to sew cookies to card stock printed to
look like vintage button cards. • Nestle them inside cute
cupcake liners, tucked inside
a gift box.

• Package them in individual

cellophane bags tied with a
bow and gift tag for a nice
little gift or favor

12
Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
from Sugar & Meringue (shown on cover)

1/4 cup shortening 2 2/3 cups flour

1/4 cup butter 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon soda
1 egg 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 425º. Mix shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla. Blend dry ingredients,

add to sugar mixture alternately with sour cream. Divide dough; roll out to 1/4"

thick on well-floured pastry cloth. Cut with 2" cutter: place on greased cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

13
 Gel ElectroPhoresis
from Not So Humble Pie
Science Cookies:

at e * Do
on n You will need:
at
n a te * D

e*

The 2 dozen square sugar cookies, fully cooled

Great American
Dona

pink food coloring

Bake Sale
o

blue food coloring

*D

te

*
D o n a te 2 piping bags fitted with small round tips (use an Ateco #2 or #3)

14
Directions:
Tint 1/3 of a cup of the icing pink
to make the markers and the
remaining 1 and 2/3 cups with
royal blue and pink to create a
background that will vaguely
simulate what the gel looks like
under ultraviolet light.

Using your purple icing, pipe a

square outline on each of the
cookies and allow it to set (Giv-
en the consistency of your icing
should take about 10 minutes,
probably longer). Then, thin the
remaining purple icing with a
little bit of water and flood each
of the squares. Before the purple
icing has set, use the pink icing
to pipe in the little lines to create
the markers.

That's it!

You've got Gel Electrophoresis

Cookies! Now, the markers on
my cookies are completely ran-
dom DNA gibberish of course. I'd
love to do these and replicate
actual microbiology gels.

Salmonella cookie anyone?

Yum!

More Science Cookies

at notsohumblepie.blogspot.com!

15
 Anakin
From Sugar and Meringue
LEGO Cookies

You will need:

Lego mini-figure cookie cutter
&

Several Pastry Bags

Wan

Several small writing tips & couplers

Frosting coloring: Ivory, Black, Peach, Copper, Brown & Royal Blue

A new, very small/fine artist's liner paint brush

Royal Icing (see recipe on page 10)

Obi

LOTS OF TIME!
16
 1 2 3

Begin by outlining Obi Wan's vest with royal icing. Then flood inside the ouline with thinned icing. Follow the
same procedure to outline and flood Obi Wan's pants, sleeve and head.

NOW STOP!!! At this point you need to let the icing dry completely before going on to the next step so that the
colors don't bleed. You may want to let them dry overnight

Outline and Dab a tiny bit of

4 5
flood belt with royal blue coloring
brown. Allow to on some waxed
dry. Then use a paper and then,
#1 tip to pipe on with your paint
the black de- brush, paint the
tails and a #2 eyes
tip to pipe the
eyes.

Pipe on hair and eye-

7
brows. Outline then flood

e
beard and mustache.
When beard and mus-
Her
Click onate
tache are dry, use paint
brush to paint on the

to D
black lines. Use ivory col-
e
oring to paint details on a ke Sal
ican B
the shirt/vest. Amer
Great
to The

17
Click Here to Donate
to The Great American Bake Sale

bakeitpretty.com

How to Paint Cookies

From Bake it Pretty
1
Start by baking up a nice batch of sugar cookies.

After the cookies have cooled down you can draw an outline in white royal icing,
then “flood” the middle to make them nice and white.
18
Now you must wait for the cookies to dry overnight so you have a smooth
and durable surface to paint on. Don’t worry about leaving them out, they
shouldn’t get dry, (mine were fine.)

Now for the fun part! Use gel food coloring and
water to paint your cookies. It’s very similar to
using watercolor paints, and a little of the gel
color will go a long way. We used small plates
as “pallets” and I bought a fresh pack of assort-
ed paintbrushes for this project.

You can use food coloring pens instead of the

paint, They work beautifully. The pens are great
for doing small details. Notes:

You don’t need a huge assort-

You can even get fancy and mix a little dab of luster dust into the gel color for
ment of gel colors, put those
a super-shimmery effect. The photos really can’t capture how iridescent the kindergarten skills to work
luster dust is, it’s just amazing. and mix your own custom
colors!

I recommend buying new

brushes. Old ones might have
Let your cookies dry completely (shouldn’t take more than a few hours,) and you paint residue and you don’t
are ready to enjoy your edible works of art. Although, after all of that effort, it want that in your cookies.
might hard to actually bite into them. But you’ll get over it!
This project is fun, but a lot
of work. Plan ahead and start
the cookies in advance. Bake
them one day, flood the next
day, and paint them later.

Using dark gel color on the

cookies will temporarily stain
your teeth/lips when you bite
into them! Keep that in mind if
you are going to serve these
at a fancy party. Your guests
could be irritated.

Fancy isn’t always better.

Simple dots, stripes, etc. will
look gorgeous. You don’t
have to be an artist to have
fun painting cookies.

Did I mention how fun this

was? It was awesome. You
should try it.

bakeitpretty.com
19
Contributors:
Bake it Pretty

Cake Spy

The Constant Baker

Not So Humble Pie

!!!
Sweetopia

u!!!!!!!!!!!
ank yo
TH
In celebration of NATIONAL SUGAR COOKIE DAY, 2010
Click Here to Donate
to The Great American Bake Sale
Artwork Courtesy of Cakespy