Soft Sugar Cookies For Painted 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 large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until light. In a small bowl, stir the soda, salt and flour together. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed ingredients until well mixed. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough in half. Wrap half in plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut cookies with a cookie cutter of any design and place on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
• Put 1 teaspoon corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon water into each of 4 different custard cups. Tint each of the four mixtures with food coloring. Stir each well.
• Paint the unbaked cookies before baking using a small paintbrush. For more fun, press cookie dough through a garlic press to make "hair" for gingerbread figures.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Remove the cookies with a spatula and cool on wire rack.

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES IV

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, stir into the creamed mixture until dough comes together. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place them on an unprepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
• Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottom is light brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

THE BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.