Apple Cutout Sugar Cookies Recipes

OLD-FASHIONED APPLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°. Grease cookie sheet with shortening. Beat brown sugar, butter and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, nutmeg, salt and baking soda. Stir in apple.
• Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool. Store loosely covered.

APPLE CUTOUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients in order given and mix well. Chill dough 2-3 hours or until easy to handle. , Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with an apple-shaped cookie cutter dipped in flour. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. , For frosting, combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a small bowl. Transfer three fourths of the frosting into another bowl; add red food coloring for apples. Add green food coloring to remaining frosting for stems. Frost cookies. Allow to sit overnight for frosting to harden.

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
• Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a second large bowl and mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture 1 cup at a time. Chill the dough for 3 to 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Roll out the dough and cut it into shapes with cookie cutters or a knife. Place the shapes on the prepared cookie sheet. If decorating with colored sugar, brush the cookies with milk and sprinkle with colored sugar (if using royal icing, leave unfinished). Bake until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.
• Remove the cookies to a rack to cool completely. If using royal icing, decorate the cookies as desired.
• Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl. Mix slowly with an electric mixer until stiff enough to form peaks; the icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly. If the frosting is over-beaten, it will get aerated which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the frosting sit to settle, and then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth out the frosting.
• Add up to 1 tablespoon food coloring and mix with a rubber spatula until the color is uniform. Gels are best with royal icing. You don't want to thin them with liquid colors. Be careful of adding too much color, which reduces the sheen of the frosting and can break down the consistency of the frosting over a couple of days. Store the icing at room temperature, covered, with plastic wrap on the surface.
• Yield: 3 1/2 cups icing

CUT-OUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat egg yolks and almond paste together in a bowl using a mixer on medium speed until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Add butter, sugar, and salt to almond paste mixture and beat until creamy, about 3 minutes; reduce speed to low and gradually beat in flour just until blended.
• Divide dough into 4 pieces and flatten each into a disk on a lightly floured surface. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Place 1 dough piece on a lightly floured surface and roll into 1/4-inch thickness using a floured rolling pin. Cut dough into shapes using floured cookie cutters. Arrange cookies 1-inch apart on a large baking sheet. Form any remaining scraps into a disk and refrigerate.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour and baking powder, stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the heavy cream. Cover dough, and chill for 2 to 3 hours, until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

CHRISTMAS CUTOUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a portion of cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minute, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Cool completely on pans about 5 minutes, transfer to cooling racks and cool completely before decorating.
• In a small bowl, mix sugar and water to form a thick, smooth icing. Stir in food coloring to reach desired shade. Drop icing onto cookies using a small teaspoon and smooth with the back of the spoon. Make additional bowls for additional colors.
• Additional multi-colored sprinkles can be added on top of icing before it dries for more decorative cookies, if desired.

SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
• Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough between two pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch thick. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Cut out cookies with a 4-inch one-piece-shaped cookie cutter. To make an ornament, cut out a hole from the center of the neck about 1/4-inch from the edge using a straw. Transfer cookie dough on plastic wrap to a baking sheet. Transfer baking sheet to freezer, freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes. Remove baking sheet from freezer and transfer shapes to baking sheets lined with nonstick baking mats. Roll out scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
• Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

CUTOUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and chill for 2-3 hours or until easy to handle. , On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. , For icing, cream the butter and shortening in a bowl. Add vanilla and salt. Gradually add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk; beat until light and fluffy. Tint icing with desired colors of food coloring; decorate the cookies.

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, the butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, almond extract and egg until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough 3/16 inch thick. Cut into assorted shapes with cookie cutters, or cut around patterns traced from storybook illustrations. If cookies are to be hung as decorations, make a hole in each 1/4 inch from top with end of plastic straw. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• In medium bowl, beat all frosting ingredients until smooth and spreadable. Tint with food color if desired. Frost and decorate cookies as desired with frosting and colored sugars.