It’s been awhile but I’m back! Since my last blog post, I’ve moved to Chicago and got a new job. It’s been a lot to get used to but I’m trying to get back to the things I enjoy: baking! But I’m adding more to my blog. I’ve taken a liking to cooking meals during the weekdays as well. So get prepared for (hopefully) two blog posts a week! One on Thursday evening, documenting all the meals I’ve cooked during the week (on Fridays, we do pizza or something), and one on Sunday, where I share a new recipe I’ve created. To get me started, I came up with a new (and even better!) sugar cookie recipe. Seeing as I’m trying to get back into the groove of baking, I thought I’d try something easy at first. I topped my cookies with an easy glaze and some sprinkles to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (my favorite holiday)!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tablespoons of milk
- Powdered sugar (for rolling out the dough)
Instructions:
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking
powder, and salt combined.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to
cream together the butter and granulated sugar until it's light and
fluffy. Then beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Once the butter and sugar mixture is combined, slowly
mix in the dry ingredients until dough starts to form and pulls away from
the sides of the bowl.
- Separate the dough into two even balls, wrap them in
cling wrap, and refrigerate for an hour and a half.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cover whatever surface you
plan on using with powdered sugar (I learned this trick from Alton Brown –
it bakes a lot nicer than flour does) and roll out one ball of dough. Once
rolled out, cut out any shapes you want (I went with circles and used a
cup for the cutter). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or if you
use silicone mats, those work too. I use mats so I don't have to waste
parchment paper).
- Bake for 6-8 minutes until the cookies are a little
brown around the edges. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for about three
minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
- While the cookies cool, start making the glaze
- Make sure the cookies are all the way cool or the glaze
will melt right off the cookies.
Easy Glaze Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 2 - 2.5 tablespoons of water
- Salt (this is optional)
Instructions:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and water. It should be thick. If it turns out to be too thick, add in a bit more water to loosen it up. If it turns out to be too thin, add in a little bit more sugar to thicken it up. With glaze, you should be able to drizzle a little line of it with the whisk. When you do this, the line should hold for a few seconds before fading back into the glaze. That's when you know it's ready to be used.
- If desired, you can add gel food coloring to the icing
for fun colors to decorate your cookies with.
- For decorating, you can use a piping bag to make a design
on your cookies or you can just glaze them with a knife like I did. You
can also add sprinkles!
- Let your cookies set until the glaze hardens. Store
them in a sealed container and enjoy!
One of my favorite parts about
baking is getting to try what I created! I tried one of the cookies without the
glaze and, of course, with the glaze. I don’t like my sugar cookies too sweet,
so it’s the right amount of sweetness and sugariness. Then, when you add the
glaze (which I put salt in so it’s also not too sweet), it’s like the perfect
cookie. Sweet, but not too sweet. And since Thursday is St. Patrick’s Day, of
course I decorated the cookies to celebrate my favorite holiday. But these
recipes are easy to make and decorate anytime!
Want to know every time I post a
blog? Follow my Instagram page: @theonewherecarolinebakes
Comments
Post a Comment