Sugar Cookies are a great cookie to make because they are simple, fun to decorate, you can make loads from one batch, they have a very quick cooking time and you can bake them in a variety of shapes depending on the season/occasion.
I have included cinnamon in my recipe which is not a traditional ingredient for vanilla sugar cookies, however I just love a touch of cinnamon in a biscuit. If you’re not the biggest cinnamon fan, leave it out and have delicious classic sugar cookies. I have also used almond extract instead of vanilla before which gave the cookies a really great flavour.
When looking at the icing recipe, you will notice I made a thicker icing to outline the cookies with and another icing to fill (flood) the middle – this makes icing sugar cookies much easier and stops the icing from dripping over the side as the thicker icing creates a barrier.
Recipe
Cookies
320g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsp Cinnamon
170g Unsalted Butter
170g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Icing
For the outline
80g Icing Sugar (sifted)
15ml Milk
1 tsp Golden Syrup
For the flood icing
120g Icing sugar (sifted)
25ml Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Method
Cookies
- Begin by measuring out your flour into a bowl and then add in your baking powder, bicarb and cinnamon, set to one side.
- In a mixing bowl cream together your unsalted butter and caster sugar for approximately 2 minute until light and fluffy.
- Add you egg and vanilla to your butter mixture and mix in until fully combined.
- Mix in your dry ingredients until you have a thick mixture.
- Wrap the mix in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.*
- Just before your dough is ready to come out of the fridge preheat your oven to 170 degrees (celsius) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Once your dough has been chilled you are ready to roll it out. Lightly flour a surface and then roll the dough out until it is about 1 cm in thickness.
- With you chosen cookie cutters cut out your shapes and place on your baking tray. Leave some space for the cookies to spread a little (I usually leave abut a 3-4 cm gap to be on the safe side).
- Bake in the oven for about 6-7 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Leave to cool on a baking tray.
*Chilling the dough is a must for most cookie recipes as it stop the cookies from spreading too much so they hold their shape much better. You can leave the dough in the fridge for much longer and it will still be fine when baking. The maximum I have left dough chilling for is 24 hours, not to say that you cannot leave it for longer i have just never had to.
Whilst they are cooling you can make your icing, there are a few ways to frost/ice cookies. I find flood icing the easiest way but they are your cookies so do what works for you!
Icing
Outline icing
- For the outline icing you need to take your 80g icing sugar and place in a medium bowl. Add the milk and golden syrup and whip until you have a smooth, thick icing (If you want to colour your icing then add your dye and mix again).
- Place in a piping bag with a small round nozzle (or just snip the bag so you have a small hole of about 4mm).
- Pipe carefully around the edge of your cookies to form an outline (as shown on the heart below).
- Whilst your outline is setting, you can make your flood icing.
Flood icing
- Again, take your 120g of icing sugar and add your milk and vanilla extract, then whisk until you have a smooth, but runnier icing (again add any colouring now).
- Repeat the piping bag step but with a slightly bigger hole (6mm).
- Place the nozzle at the centre of the cookie and apply pressure to the piping bag. The icing should “flood” out across the surface (you can tilt the cookie to help the icing reach specific corners/areas).
- Feel free to experiment with colours and sprinkles as desired.
Side of Frosting 