Every time I went to pipe, I coughed and frosting went everywhere. End result, very sloppy cookies. Part of it too is the frosting I use. Royal icing is great for decorating cookies. Unfortunately, I don’t like how it tastes. It’s like wedding cake….fondant is pretty but butter cream is yummy. I’ll take yummy over pretty any day. This is a great tasting cookie. These ones tend to stay a little soft so they are sometimes hard to decorate due to breakage.
This is a short post since I am pretty wiped out and WAY under the weather. But here is cookie # 3 for my cookie exchange. Sadly, the cookies were really made to cheer my dog up after her surgery….she is obsessed with sugar cookies, but they work great for Christmas cookies too. 🙂
Sugar Cookie Dough
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
3 cups flour
pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a sheet pan well and set aside.
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high-speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix well. Add the cream of tarter, flour, and salt, and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough is smooth.
Remove the dough from the mixer and form into a ball. If it is too soft to handle, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate untl it firms up a bit. On a well-floured board, roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters of your choice. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie cutter. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack or paper towels and let cool completely. Frost and decorate the cookie after they have cooled.
Source: Adapted from Caprial’s Desserts by Caprial Pence and Melissa Carey 2001
Jeff says
Such a cute piggy!!
Claire says
I LOVE the pig design! I am president of Pediatric Interest Group at school (PIG!) and this would be so much fun to have at our fundraiser in the spring. Is this one LARGE cookie (like a cookie cake) or is it two smaller cookies? Hope you feel better.
peabody says
Claire- it’s about the size of a large grapfruit. It is two parts, the body and the head. I bought my pig and I got a sheep too from the King Arthur’s Baker Catalouge.
alymedina says
So cute, Peabody!
Can I have your royal icing recipe? I love it (even the way it tastes!), but it’s always too runny to pipe. It actually dribbles out of the piping bag, which leads me to believe I’ve added too much water?
I’d love to see your recipe!
peabody says
Aly- this is a pretty stiff one that I use when I make gingerbread houses
3 TBSP meringue powder mixed with 6 TBSP warm water
pinch of cream of tarter
1 lb of powdered sugar
Place all ingredients in very clean mixing bowl. Turn machine on, and with whisk attachment, combine on low speed. Increase speed to high and whip until mixture is stiff, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from mixer.
Remove 3/4 of the mixture to another bowl and cover bowl with a damp towel until you are ready to use icing, or icing will dry and a crust will form.
Kat says
cute! hope you are feeling better soon!
Tanna says
Love the piggie!
Bronchitis doesn’t usually go with much except chicken soup. Hope you feel better soooon.
Ellie says
Way too cute – lucky doggy! Hope you feel better soon!
Alanna says
Hope all dogs and peoples are better soon. My dog had her knee moved yesterday … yikes, 8 weeks in confinement ahead.
Brilynn says
You are too funny! Sorry to hear you’re still feeling icky, but I love how these cookies turned out.
Lisa says
Very cute cookie.
I hope you feel better soon. Wish I could run you up some chicken soup! What kind of surgery did your doggie have? Here’s a speedy recovery to her too!
*hugs*
Abby says
That is one of the cutest things I have EVER seen. (And I agree with you about yummy over pretty. I refused to have fondant on my wedding cake because, well, ICK.)
Wandering Coyote says
Hey – they’re still pretty charming. Hope you feel better soon.
Robin Schick says
I just love your site. The Piggy cookies look and sound good. I am surprised that you didn’t have Sour Cream in the ingredients.
Hope you feel better.
Thanks,
Robin
eliza says
the pig looks happy, though!
Sara says
Sorry you’re sick! What a great cookie!
Helen says
Very cute! Hope everybody feels better. I love that pink frosting!
Natalia says
Those are adorable! I love pigs, especially in cookie form.
Bea at La Tartine Gourmande says
Hope you feel better soon! Still very cute pigs 😉
joey says
I love that cookie! It is adorable 🙂 Hope you are feeling better! 🙂
Ashley says
That cookie is about the size of my dog! 🙂 Those cookies look great….I’m with you on the taste of Royal Icing. Taste conquers appearance, but I must say these LOOK awesome.
Kirsten says
Oh Peabody!! If I could ice cookies half as well when I am not sick I would be thrilled. Just darling. 🙂
anickh says
this is a really good sugar cookie recipe. i like it equal as much as Bridgette’s from bakeat350 (the recipes are very similar) differences: this one is more short (meaning higher butter ratio.) There’s slightly more sugar to balance having extra butter. There are no leavening agents and this has cream of tartar (LOVE cream of tartar.) But like I sid, this cookie is tied w/ bridgettes. its very good.