Holiday Sweater Cookies Recipes

UGLY SWEATER COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg and molasses. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half; shape each into a disk. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, 4 hours or overnight., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 3-1/2-in. sweater-shaped cookie cutters. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake cookies until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely., Place first 5 icing ingredients in a small bowl; beat on low speed just until blended. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, 4-5 minutes. Thin with cream to desired consistency. If desired, tint with food coloring., Pipe icing onto cookies and decorate as desired. (Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth. If necessary, beat again on high speed to restore texture.) Let cookies stand at room temperature several hours or until frosting is dry and firm.

CHRISTMAS TIE-DYE SWEATER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix the sugar cookie mix according to the package instructions and divide the dough into 3 equal dough balls. Color one dough ball red and the other dough ball green so you have 1 plain, 1 red and 1 green.
• Tear teaspoon-sized pieces of each color dough and drop them on a piece of parchment or a silicone baking mat, alternating colors close together so it looks like confetti. Place a sheet of parchment or wax paper on top of the dough pieces and roll out to 1/4-inch thick. Refrigerate the rolled out dough for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 hour (this helps keep the cookies from spreading).
• Using a sweater cookie cutter, press out as many sweaters as you can and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Re-roll the leftover dough and keep punching out cookies. (Note, the more you roll, the cooler the dough pattern will be, but if you over-roll it, it will become a muddy color.)
• Bake just until the bottoms start to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before decorating.
• Mix the royal icing according to the package instructions. Divide the icing into three bowls. Leave one bowl white, dye another red and the last green. Add the icing to piping bags or squeeze bottles. Outline a cookie with one color, then another inside the first outline, working in from the perimeter and alternating colors until the whole cookie is covered. Drag a toothpick from the center of the cookie out to the edges to create a tie-dye effect. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Let set until dry, 20 to 30 minutes.

HOLIDAY SWEATER COOKIES

Steps:

• Cookies:.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add in flour mixture until dough is just combined.
• Turn dough out of bowl and divide in half. Form into two disks. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove one disk of dough from refrigerator and allow to temper slightly, 10-15 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4" thick, adding more flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking. Cut out cookies using desired cutters and transfer to parchment-lined sheet trays. Reroll scraps once, and cut out any additional cookies. Transfer sheet trays to refrigerator and chill until very firm, at least 30 minutes (or to the freezer, for 15 minutes). Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are just golden, 14-16 minutes. Allow to cool completely on sheet trays set on wire cooling racks before decorating.
• Royal Icing:.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine all ingredients and beat on low speed until smooth and opaque, about 7 minutes. Icing should have the consistency of glue, and ribbons should disappear in 15-second intervals. If icing is too thick, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until proper consistency is reached; if icing is too thin, add additional confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until proper consistency is reached. If desired, tint icing with gel paste food coloring before transferring to piping bags or plastic squeeze bottles for decorating.