Elk And Other Animal Cut Out Cookies Recipes

ANIMAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.
• Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, occasionally scraping the bowl. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill the dough in the refrigerator until firm.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Roll the dough out on a floured surface 1/8th-inch-thick and cut into shapes with animal cookie cutters. Place the cookies on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper, and bake for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size. Cookies should be golden brown on the edges. After cookies have cooled and are firm, they are ready to decorate, if desired.
• For the decoration, fill a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip with Royal Icing. Place each cookie on a piece of parchment paper and outline it with a thin line of Royal Icing around the entire edge of the cookie. Allow the icing to set.
• Place 1/4 cup of Royal Icing in a small bowl and mix it well with 1/4 teaspoon of the egg whites or water. Continue mixing and adding egg whites or water until the icing is the consistency of maple syrup.
• Using a number 12 artist's brush push a few dollops of the thinned icing around the top of each cookie until it is completely covered to the edge. Allow the cookies to sit overnight to harden. Reserve the remaining Royal Icing.
• Place Royal Icing in a small bowl and mix in several drops of black food coloring. Continue mixing and adding food coloring until you have the desired color. Spoon the black icing into a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip and outline each cookie with a thin line of icing and decorate, as desired. For each additional colored icing, repeat the process. Allow the icing to set.
• Place the confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the eggs whites and lemon juice and beat at medium speed until the sugar and eggs are completely mixed and the icing is thick and white.

ELK AND OTHER ANIMAL CUT OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a big bowl combine butter pieces, flour, vanilla sugar, sugar and egg. Knead into a smooth dough. Wrap dough into cling film and refrigerated for 30 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough quite thinly (about 3 mm thick).
• Cut out elks or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and place on a paper-lined baking sheet. If you like attach a currant to each elk for eyes.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven at 190°C/375°F for 8-12 minutes or until just slightly browned around the edges.
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheets and then transfer to a wire-rack to cool completely.
• Now you can add any decorations you might like to add. I used some eggnog flavoured icing dipping the cookies into it and attaching a chocolate chip as an eye afterwards.
• Let dry.

BLACK-AND-WHITE SPOTTED ANIMAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together the egg and vanilla in a small bowl.
• Beat together the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly creamy, about 3 minutes.
• Reduce the speed to low again and slowly pour in the egg mixture; beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, increasing the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning, and scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beaters themselves as needed. Once all the flour is just incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and beat, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Remove half the dough from the bowl and set aside. Beat the cocoa into the remaining half on low speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
• Drop grape sized pieces of plain and chocolate dough in the center of a separate piece of parchment (the dough pieces should be close to each other). Put another piece of parchment on top and using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/8-to-1/4-inch-thick to create a spotted dough. Chill to firm slightly, about 15 minutes. Cut out cat, dogs and cows shapes with cookie cutters. Push the scrap back together (don't stack or roll into a ball) and reroll and cut out more cookies. Repeat until you have used up as much dough as you can. Transfer the cut out dough to the prepared baking sheets and bake until set but still light in color on the plain cookie dough part, about 12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• Use the melted chocolate to dot on eyes using a toothpick. Put the pink icing into a small resealable plastic bag and make a small opening by snipping the corner. Pipe the frosting to give the cat a nose, the cow an udder and a nose and the dog a tongue.

ICED ANIMAL COOKIES

Steps:

• For the animal cookies: In a stand mixer with the paddle, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined; do not incorporate air. Add the egg, lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt and beat to incorporate. Add the flour and mix to form a dryish dough. Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap and smush the dough together, then flatten into a disc. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes or until you are ready to roll it out.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured countertop to about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out cookies with your cutter of choice and place on the lined baking sheet. (They will not spread, so you can put them fairly close together.)
• Bake for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. They should not really take on any color, just a little bit on the bottom. Let cool completely on the baking sheet.
• For the icing and decorating: Place the melting wafers in 2 double boilers and gently stir to melt. Drop in each cookie into one of the icings, top-down. Flip over and remove with a fork. Tap off excess and place on parchment paper. Sprinkle with sprinkles immediately, then allow to set at room temperature, about 1 hour.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature until you have eaten them all.

PERFECT CUT-OUT COOKIE DOUGH

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Blend egg and vanilla extract into the butter mixture.
• Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl; mix into the butter mixture until just incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and let the dough warm to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Roll dough out onto a flat surface to about 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut dough into shapes with cookie cutters; arrange onto baking sheets.
• Bake cookies until firm in the center, but not yet browning, 8 to 12 minutes. Let cool briefly on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.