Monday, December 17, 2007

I'm Dreaming Of A Sugar Cookie Christmas


This is a lot of fun to do with the kids. Make any good sugar cookie dough. I use the Rich Roll Cookies from The Joy of Cooking. I NEVER refrigerate the dough before I roll it out. I refrigerate it AFTER.

After mixing the dough, roll out a large handful between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Lay the rolled-out cookie dough on a baking sheet, sheet pan or tray. Continue with rest of dough, layering each sheet with plastic between each layer. Freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes. (You can wrap the layers airtight and freeze for up to a month.) Remove sheets of dough from freezer or fridge. Cut out cookies. (It's a breeze when the dough is nice and cold.) Place on foil-lined and Pam-ed baking sheet.

To decorate, I use egg yolk paint. Separate 3 yolks into three separate bowls, saving the whites for something else. (They can be frozen, well-sealed, and thawed and used for meringues. One egg white equals 2 tablespoons or 1 ounce. Four egg whites would be half a cup.)

Add 1 teaspoon of water to each yolk. Leave one bowl as it is, that will be your yellow paint. Add coloring (Wilton paste coloring is good) to the others. I usually color one yolk red and the other green. (Blue is a bit problematical, when you're starting with a yellow yolk.) Using a new paintbrush for each color, paint the UNBAKED cookies with the colored yolk paint. Sprinkle with sugar and or sprinkles. Bake according to recipe, keeping a careful watch.

Now sit back, turn on your speakers and watch someone else do all the work...

8 comments:

Emily said...

That's you! That's so cool! You must have had a helpful hand in the kitchen.
I'm sure your cookies were the most beautiful at the party. That dough looks good. I'm going to have to try it, soon.
I've never heard about the egg-yolk painting. I want to try that, too.

Sue said...

Hey Em,
Yeah, the extra hand was helpful, except when I was wielding my rolling pin left-handed, holding the camera in my other hand.

Try the egg yolk painting. It's way cool.

They looked ok, but they were definitely not the best tasting and, luckily, I didn't have an Emiline to compete with.

Anonymous said...

Very nice--I never knew you could bake sprinkles. I always thought they'd melt into nothing-ness. Another good sugar cookie recipe I recommend is Nigella Lawson's from Feast. I do have to ask, however, is there some sort of Christmas reference to pigs that I'm unaware of?

Chibog in Chief said...

oh thats sweet of you to put a video !! let me try this recipe..im not really at baking cookies but how will i go wrong when you just posted a user friendly recipe :-)

Cynthia said...

If only I were a cookie lover.

Sue said...

Hi Anon,
I never knew you couldn't.

Very acute eyesight you have there...but you didn't notice the hatchets. (They went by quickly in the slideshow.) My brother loves pigs and hatchets. The pigs I have no idea why; the hatchets because we found a childhood picture of him holding one in an otherwise fairly formal family shot.

Hi Dhanggit,
You can use any sugar cookie recipe and then paint them with egg yolk paint before you bake them. Good luck.

Cynthia, dear,
If only I weren't.

Thistlemoon said...

Wow egg yolk painting. I have never done that before! How ingenious! Hope you had fun at the party!

Sue said...

Hi Jenn,
You really have to try it. Easy and fun.

The cookie exchange was great. What could be bad?...Eat, drink AND walk away with a plate of cookies.