Spiced Springtime Sugar Cookies Recipes

SPICED HOLIDAY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Beat granulated sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight until firm.
• 2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface* to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with favorite cookie cutters. Place on greased baking sheets.
• 3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• 4. For the Icing, mix all ingredients except food colors. (Stir in additional milk to thin icing or more confectioners' sugar to thicken, if needed). Place small amount of icing into small shallow bowls, using one bowl for each color desired. Stir drops of food color into icing until desired shade is reached.
• 5. To ice cookies, hold cookie by its edge and dip top of cookie into icing. (Or spoon the icing onto cookie using a teaspoon.) Place iced cookies on wire rack set over foil-covered baking sheet to dry. (The foil-covered baking sheet will catch drips.) To add decorative details to cookies, spoon tinted icing into resealable plastic bag. Snip off a tiny piece of the corner. Squeeze icing through hole in plastic bag to decorate cookies. If desired, Colored Sugar may be sprinkled onto freshly iced cookies.
• For the variations below, omit the cinnamon and the nutmeg. Use the following extract in place of the vanilla extract in the cookies:
• Almond Holiday Sugar Cookies: Use 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Almond Extract.
• Orange Holiday Sugar Cookies: Use 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Orange Extract.
• Lemon Holiday Sugar Cookies: Use 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract.

SPICED SUGAR COOKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• To make the cookies, first combine the flour, salt, baking powder, ground ginger and cinnamon. Whisk until incorporated, and set aside. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined. Next, add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Don't worry if the mixture clumps slightly, it will come together when you add the dry ingredients.
• Gradually add in the flour mixture and switch to a rubber spatula if necessary. The mixture will be thick and may be a little sticky. Scoop the cookie dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, covering it well. Shape the dough into a small disk. This ensures that a skin does not form on the dough, and it remains smooth.
• Chill the dough for at least two hours or overnight, or until it is firm to the touch. The longer the dough chills, the more pronounced the spice flavors will be. When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. If the dough has been chilling for several hours, leave it for around 10 minutes to soften slightly, as it will be quite firm.
• Dust a work surface and the dough with flour and roll to a ½ cm or ¼ inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough as you like. Fear not if you don't have cookie cutters: you can do several things. You could roll the dough into a log instead of a disk when refrigerating, then slice the log into ½ cm or ¼ inch slices. You could also roll the dough into 1 tablespoon sized balls, roll the balls in granulated sugar, then place onto the cookie sheet and press down to form a disk. Alternatively, you can use the rim of a glass to cut out shapes. Gather the scraps, then roll out the cookie dough again, adding a touch more flour when necessary to prevent sticking.
• Place the cut-outs onto the parchment-lined baking tray and bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, or until the edges are a light golden brown (11 minutes will give you a slightly softer cookie, 13 minutes will give you a slightly crunchier cookie). Let the cookies cool for several minutes on the tray, then transfer them to a wire rack and let them completely before icing.
• To make the icing, use a wooden spoon to combine the butter and confectioners' sugar as best you can. It will be relatively dry. At this stage, add the vanilla, followed by the milk or water a little at a time, until you obtain your desired consistency. If the icing ends up being too thin, add some more sugar. If it's too thick, add more milk. If you'd like, you can color the icing with your food coloring of choice.
• Spread the icing onto the cookies, using a butter knife or using a piping bag with the end snipped off just slightly, and top with sprinkles. Wait until the icing has hardened (this takes around an hour, or less if refrigerated) before stacking or serving. The icing makes enough for the cookies specified in the recipe, but if you'd like to have multiple colors, you might like to double the icing recipe so that there is enough per color.
• Storing: These cookies last for around a week once frosted, and slightly longer unfrosted. The dough, unbaked, freezes well too!

SPICE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a bowl cream the shortening with the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy and stir in the egg and the molasses. Into another bowl sift together the flour, the baking soda, the cinnamon, the ginger, the cloves, and the salt, add the flour mixture in batches to the shortening mixture, and blend the dough well. Chill the dough, covered, for 1 hour.
• Roll level tablespoons of the dough into balls, dip one side of each ball into the granulated sugar, and arrange the balls, sugared sides up, about 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake the cookies in batches in the middle of a preheated 375°F. oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are puffed and cracked on top. Transfer the cookies with a metal spatula to racks and let them cool.