Riddle's Recipes: Iced & Spiced Christmas Cookies
We recently made these cookies for Boston Project's "Being Thankful for My Community" Day, and they were a huge hit! It's a subtle twist on a traditional sugar cookie recipe - they come out looking simple and beautiful, and taste delicious. Enjoy!
Spiced Cookie Dough
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture and beat until combined. Shape dough into two disks and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour) Roll out and cut into desired shapes. **This is key** Place on parchment paper and let chill in the fridge for 30 min. (I find that I cut out the cookies and then turn on the oven. By the time the oven is hot the cookies resting in the fridge are ready. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 min. Glaze when cooled.
Vanilla Glaze
(makes 1 cup, enough to glaze one recipe of dough above)
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cookies can be dipped in glaze or you can use a small spoon and spread it on each one. It is good to do this on a cooling rack because the glaze drips off the edges of the cookies a lot. I also found that the cookies take a long time to dry...several hours, so I would glaze them the day before you need to serve them so the glaze hardens.
