Painted Sugar Cookies Recipes

PAINTED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Start with cookies that have been flooded with royal icing and the royal icing is completely hard & dry.
• Add a few drops vodka to a small bowl or dish and then add a drop or two of gel food coloring.
• Mix with your brush and blot off the excess paint. You're ready to start painting!
• Allow the cookies to dry for an hour or so after painting, before packaging.
• Start by adding a few drops of the Moss Green food coloring into the dish and dilute it slightly with a few drops of vodka.
• Using a flat/wide brush, create several tree trunks. You want to try and make the color a bit deeper for the trunks to give the trees a sturdy center.
• Using the corners of the brush, lightly dab branches on either side of the center. If you repeat some dabs on top of the branches you already made, it gives the tree more depth. Be sure to blot your paintbrush on a paper towel along the way!
• With the darkest trees made, dilute the food coloring with a few more drops of vodka to lighten the color. Make a few more trees at different heights behind the darker ones.
• If you have other shades of green (the Silver Spruce color is gorgeous and works wonderfully for this design), add a drop to the green color you've already made or into a new bowl/cavity. It helps to mix up the shades/tones of greens to give the trees a more of a woodsy, forest look.
• Lastly, add a little dab of color to the bottom of the cookie and thin it out with a bit of pure vodka. Add a different shade of green and swirl it on top for contrast.
• Allow to dry before packaging (about 1 hour or so).

PAINTED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl mix together the gel food coloring and water until well combined. Set aside until ready to use.
• In a small bowl mix together the cocoa powder and water until mixture is smooth.
• Prepare your workstation by laying a large sheet of wax paper on the counter, and placing the cookies upon it. Have ready your cookie paint and brushes.
• Before making brush strokes on the cookies, dip the brush into the food coloring mixture and press the brush against the sides of the bowl to rid of any excess liquid.
• Gently make brush strokes on the cookies as desired. Set aside until completely dry, 4-5 hours.

PAINTED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed.
• Roll out dough on generously floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes, such as rounds or flowers, with 3-inch cookie cutters. Place on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges start to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Spoon frosting into medium microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 20 to 30 seconds, stirring every 10 seconds. (Frosting should be a pourable consistency.) Dip tops of cookies into frosting. Place frosted cookies on wire rack set over foil-covered baking sheet. (The baking sheet will catch drips.) Let stand 10 minutes or until frosting is dried.
• Prepare desired colors of Flavor Paints (see below). Using small clean paint brushes, paint designs on cookies.
• Flavor Paints:Rosy Red: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Red Food ColorDeep Ocean Blue: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Blue Food ColorBlackest Night: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Black Food ColorGrass Green: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Green Food ColorLemony Yellow: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Yellow Food ColorNeon Blue: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Neon Blue Food ColorNeon Green: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Neon Green Food ColorNeon Purple: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Neon Purple Food ColorNeon Pink: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract and 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Neon Pink Food ColorDeep Pink: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 15 drops McCormick® Red Food ColorMedium Pink: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 5 drops McCormick® Red Food ColorLight Pink: 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract and 2 drops McCormick® Red Food Color
• Instead of Flavor Paints, try decorating with Colorful Cookie Icing. Mix 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 3 to 4 teaspoons milk and 1/2 teaspoon McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract in small bowl. (Stir in additional milk as needed to thin icing or more confectioners' sugar to thicken, if needed.) Place small amount of icing into small shallow bowls, using one bowl for each color desired. Stir 3 to 4 drops McCormick Assorted Food Colors & Egg Dye into icing until desired shade is reached. To ice cookies, hold cookie by its edge and dip top of cookie into icing. (Or spoon the icing onto cookie using a teaspoon.) Place iced cookies on wire rack set over foil-covered baking sheet to dry. (The foil-covered baking sheet will catch drips.) To add decorative details to cookies, spoon tinted icing into resealable plastic bag. Snip off a tiny piece of the corner. Squeeze icing through hole in plastic bag to decorate cookies. If desired, Colored Sugar may be sprinkled onto freshly iced cookies.

THE BEST SUGAR COOKIES FOR DECORATING

Steps:

• For the dough: Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together the egg and vanilla in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Reduce the speed to low again and slowly pour in the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture, in 3 additions, increasing the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as needed. Once all the flour is just incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and bring it together. Divide into 2 even pieces. Shape each piece into a flat square and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or overnight.
• To roll, cut and bake the cookies: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Dust another sheet of parchment paper with flour and put 1 piece of the dough on top. Dust with more flour and top with another sheet of parchment. Roll the dough out between the parchment sheets into a square about 1/4-inch thick (about 11-by-9 inches) and place in the freezer for 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.
• From 1 piece of rolled dough, cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch cutter and arrange on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Refrigerate while you cut the remaining cookies. Reroll any scraps of dough and repeat the freezing, cutting and refrigerating process until all the dough is used.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheets front to back and bottom to top about halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets set on a wire cooling rack, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the royal icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water and the vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the icing forms thick and glossy peaks, about 2 minutes (adding up to 1 tablespoon more water, if needed). Tint with a few drops of food coloring as desired.
• Fit a pastry bag with a small round tip and fill it with the icing.
• Pipe royal icing on cookies with the design of your liking and let dry for 30 minutes.

PAINTBRUSH COOKIES

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray with cooking spray. Divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface, roll each half 3/16 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. On cookie sheet, place cookies about 2 inches apart.
• In small bowl, mix egg yolk and water. Divide mixture among several small custard cups. Tint each with a different food color to make bright colors. (If paint thickens while standing, stir in a few drops of water.) Paint designs on cookies with small paintbrushes. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and mace. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or rub between your fingers. When butter pieces are no larger than pea size, stir in the egg, vanilla and heavy cream. Blend thoroughly. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 5 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges begin to brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.
• To make the frosting: In a medium bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream and salt until smooth and creamy. Spread on top of cooled cookies. Let the frosting dry before storing or serving.