Christmas is time to sit back, eat cookies and watch your favorite movies. I prefer childhood favorites at this time of the year, fairy tales, princesses and princes, happy endings and lots of laughter.
One of my old time favorites is a Russian Folk Tale turned Fairy Tale Movie- Jack Frost(Morozko). This story and one his center characters, humble Nastenka has inspired me to make this cookie.
Making of a Cookie
1. I used a triangle shape cookie cutter template( I used it also here: Santa Cookies, Sleeping Santa, Tree Cookies) and a small heart shape cutter.
Using a small heart shaped cookie cutter build a shape like you see below.
2. Bake the Sugar Cookies-recipe. (Sugar Cookie recipe and Royal Icing recipe follow at the end of this post.)
3. Outline and flood, add little red dots as you see in the picture. Cookie Tutorials
4. Apply sanding sugar
5. Pipe white icing around the face
6. Dip cookie into the sanding sugar, shake the container gently and carefully lift the cookie from the sugar and place it onto the clean work surface, face up.
7. Repeat
sanding sugar application with remaining cookies
8. Add details to the face, using a Food Coloring Pen and a Petal Dust(Tangerine)
9. Use little brush to apply petal dust to the face.
10. Shake off the petal dust excess.
11. If desired pipe extra details on the body using white and red icing.
My Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened
1cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 t. kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1tbl Almond Emulsion(or 1 1/2tsp almond extract)
Sift together the flour and baking powder.
In a mixing bowl, beat the room temperature butter and sugar until light and fluffy. About 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl at least once while mixing.
Add in the egg and mix till fluffy and pale in color.
Add salt and both extracts.
Slowly add flour mixture (1 cup at a time) and stir until incorporated. Don't be afraid to use your hands a little to form a uniformed cookie dough.
Form the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. If the dough gets too hard to roll let soften a bit before rolling the dough.
Note: I sometimes make this dough in the evening and place it in the fridge and I make the cookies next day.It works fine.
Preheat oven to 360 degrees F.
Roll the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 5/16 inch(about 7mm) thick. I use two rolling guides made of two wooden painting sticks, I got at the painter's store. I glued 2 together. Total I needed 4 stick to achieve the right thickness for sugar cookies.
Place your sticks guides on the work surface, and put the disk of dough between them, put parchment paper on the top and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out, making sure your rolling pin rolls on the top of the wooden sticks to ensure the right thickness.
You can also use Wilton Fondant 20-Inch Rolling Pin Guide Rings
Cut the cookies into shapes and place the cut cookie shapes on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Place cookies in the fridge to harden for about 5 minutes and then put them in the oven.
Bake the cookies for approximately 8-10 minutes Rotate sheets in half time for even baking.
Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes. Do not attempt to move the cookies at this stage, they are too soft and will break.
Slowly remove cookies from the sheet using a a wide spatula place them on the cooling rack and let cool completely.
Recipe for Royal Icing
Royal icing is the most common icing used by home bakers and professionals as well. It can be used for variety of tasks and that makes it a great medium to work with. It found its way into my kitchen and I have been using it ever since.
Royal icing recipe that I use is Antonia 74 icing recipe.
3/4 cup warm water
5 TBL meringue powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
1kg of powdered sugar/sifted//2.25 lbs/
Make sure all your tools are grease free!
I wipe my tools with a piece of paper towel and vinegar. Wipe dry with a clean towel.
-sift the powdered sugar
-mix using a whisk 5 TBL of meringue powder with warm water, until slightly foamy, add cream of tarter, mix again and then add all the powdered sugar at once. Using your stand mixer, on the lowest setting, using paddle attachment, mix for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes you can add your flavorings.
Icing will be thick.
You can now color your icing.
When not in use store this icing in airtight container.
This icing behaves really well even after several weeks, just keep it in the airtight container and remix the icing when you are ready to use it again.
COLOR YOUR ICING -I recommend using food gel colorings, and letting the tinted icing sit for at least several hours/covered/ this helps to develop the color better.This works especially when working with dark colors,letting the icing rest for several hours helps to darken the icing and you will not have to use as much coloring agent.
DECORATING COOKIES - You need to thin thick icing to OUTLINE CONSISTENCY AND FLOODING CONSISTENCY. This is achieved by adding a little bit of warm water into the icing, make sure you add little by little, too much water at once is not good, it creates too many bubbles. If using tinted icing, make sure you color it before you thin the icing. I find this works the best for me.
OUTLINE IS USUALLY A LITTLE THICKER THAN FLOODING CONSISTENCY, BUT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE. EVERY DECORATOR LIKES TO WORK DIFFERENTLY.
TO CREATE A SEAMLESS ICING, YOU NEED TO FLOOD AS SOON AS YOU OUTLINE.
BUBBLES IN THE ICING -When making icing for flooding, sometimes with all the mixing we let air bubbles in the icing. To help eliminate air bubbles, let the icing sit for at least 30 minutes and then gently stir with a spoon to get rid of the bubbles.
DARK BLOTCHY SPOTS on the dried royal icing-sometimes when royal icing dries on a cookie it can absorb fat from the cookie and create dark blotchy spots.I guess it is something that possibly also has to do with the amount of humidity in the air. There are few things that you can do to help prevent this:
Let the tinted icing sit overnight, especially when using dark colors, it helps to develop color and you don't need to use as much coloring agent, and it also help with blotchy spots.
Brush a very thin layer of icing onto the cookies to seal the cookie, let dry and decorate as usual
To speed up the drying process use fans, I primarily use ceiling fan, clean the fans periodically and shut the door in the room you are using as you drying station for your cookies.
Keep in mind that if you live in high humidity climate you need to find a way to speed up the drying process, use fans to promote more air circulation, use dehumidifier if you have one it helps with the drying time as well.
I recommend finding what works for you the best, climate and weather can play tricks on us, so testing is always a good idea.
Facts about Meringue powder: this powder is made by drying the egg whites and mixing them with cornstarch and gum, it is designed to replace beaten egg white in the recipes.When mixed with water it can be whipped into soft or stiff peaks.
Facts about Cream of Tartar: is a acidic salt, a byproduct of wine making cream of tartar helps with stabilizing egg whites, it also gives them more volume and helps to produce creamier texture in desserts.
Back in the day...when I was helping out my grandmother in the kitchen she would add pinch of salt into her egg whites when beating them, and this had the similar effect on the egg whites as cream of tartar, especially when it comes to volume.
