Shortbread Cookies and Royal Icing

Yearly traditions are important in our house. My munchkin looks forward to the over the top decorations and delicious smells that come from the oven. One of her favorites, is seeing what shortbread creations I make.

I am by no means a cookie artist but I love to experiment with my royal icing. I have tried making pumpkins, llamas, to even using stencils. It’s always an adventure but the outcome at least is always the same with my recipe. Delicious.

Shortbread Cookies

• 1 cup of softened butter

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla bean paste

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 13.2 oz Melly Belly flour blend

• powdered sugar

If you are planning on baking your cookies right away, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Otherwise save this step for later.

In a mixer, beat your sugar and butter until fluffy. Add in your egg, vanilla bean paste, and salt. Mix well. Last, slowly add in your flour. Stop your mixer about 2 min in and scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula. Mix once more for about 2-3 min until batter is nice and mixed.

Line baking sheets with parchment. Either put your dough in the fridge for 30 min or stick it in the freezer for at least 10. Once ready, roll out your dough to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch depending on your liking. Pick your cookie cutter. Get a small plate of powdered sugar and dip your cookie cutter in it. I like using powdered sugar instead of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to your cutter. Cut cookies out and place them on the baking sheets. If you have room in your fridge or freezer, stick the sheets with cut cookies to cool for about 10-15 minutes. This helps the cookie to maintain its shape when baking.

Once ready, bake in oven for 10-12 min until the bottoms and edges are a nice golden brown. Take them out and let the cookies sit on sheet for about 3 min before moving them to a cooling rack. If you have multiple cookie sheets, this process will go a lot faster.

Once cooled, eat plain or decorate with royal icing!

Royal Icing

• 4 cups of powdered sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/3 cup of warm water

• 1/4 cup GF meringue powder

In a stand mixer, place warm water, vanilla, and meringue powder. Mix with paddle for about 5 minutes. Your mixture will turn into a foamy consistency. Once ready, add in your powdered sugar. Slowly start it and once mixed it will look pasty. Scrape down with spatula and then start it up again. Mix it for 5-7 minutes. It will turn a nice bright white and double in size. If you are familiar with the process, you will need to add a little water to a portion of the icing to use for flooding cookie icing and leave some as is for piping. Color to your liking in separate containers. Have fun decorating!!