Sugar Cookie Handprints Recipes

BASIC SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes, or place in a resealable plastic bag, and freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator overnight).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as needed. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets. (If dough gets soft, chill 10 minutes.) Reroll scraps; cut shapes. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes (depending on size). Cool completely on wire racks. To ice cookies, spread with the back of a spoon. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes. Decorate as desired.
• For the icing, sift confectioners' sugar into a small bowl. Whisk in milk, water, or lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If too thin, whisk in more sugar; if too thick, add more liquid. Spread over cookies with back of a spoon. Add other decorations, if desired. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes.

SUGAR-COOKIE HANDPRINTS

Steps:

• Into a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Combine butter and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl; beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough into 6 balls. Press balls on a floured work surface until about 4 or 5 inches in diameter, leaving edges raw to resemble rough cement. Transfer to a baking sheet. With lightly floured hands, let birthday child gently and evenly press each hand into a piece of dough to make hand print indentations. Sprinkle indentations with sanding sugar. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Bake until edges of cookies are just turning golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

HANDPRINT TURKEY COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle., Use a floured 3-3/4 in. hand-shaped cookie cutter, or trace a child's hand onto a piece of cardboard with pencil and cut out for a pattern., On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/2-in. thickness. Either use a sharp knife to cut around the cardboard hand pattern in dough or use cookie cutter to cut out hand shapes. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 425° for 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool., In a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients and beat until smooth. If desired, set aside a small amount of white glaze for eyes. Place 1/4 cup of glaze into each of four bowls. Tint one red, one yellow, one orange and one green. Place 1 tablespoon of glaze in another bowl and tint dark brown. Tint the remaining glaze light brown., Frost the palm and thumb of each cookie light brown. Frost each finger a different color, using red, yellow, orange and green., Place the remaining yellow glaze in a pastry or plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of bag. Pipe a beak on each thumb., Repeat with dark brown glaze to pipe wings in the center of each cookie and eyes on each thumb (or, if desired, pipe white glaze for eyeballs and dark brown glaze for pupils). , Use remaining red glaze to pipe wattles on each thumb. Let dry completely.

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk for 4 mins until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla. Whisk in the cornflour and plain flour until the mixture comes together into a dough. Put the dough between two pieces of baking parchment, and roll out to a 6mm thickness using a rolling pin. Chill for 30 mins.
• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Peel the top layer of parchment off the dough and stamp out circles using a 6cm round cutter (or the shape of your choice). Re-roll any offcuts and continue stamping out rounds until all the dough is used. Transfer the cookies to a second large baking sheet lined with baking parchment, spacing them 2cm apart (you may need two sheets). Bake for 7-10 mins. Leave to cool on the sheet for 15 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container for one week.