Recipes

Iced Sugar Cookies

  • Serves

    makes About 1 1/2 Dozen

JAMES ROPER

The dough for these buttery iced cookies is delicate; if it becomes too soft, work with a smaller portion of dough at a time. This recipe first appeared in our August/September 2013 Heartland issue with the story No Place Like Home.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 12 tsp. kosher salt
  • 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 12 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
  • 13 cup milk
  • 3-6 drops yellow food coloring
  • 3-6 drops red food coloring

Instructions

Step 1

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Slowly beat in dry ingredients until a soft dough forms. Divide dough in half and shape each piece into a flat disk. Wrap disks in plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.

Step 2

Heat oven to 325°. On a lightly floured surface, and working with 1 disk of dough at a time, roll dough 1⁄8" thick. Using a flower-shaped or other cookie cutter, cut dough and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing cookies 2" apart. Reroll and cut scraps. Bake until golden, 10-12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Step 3

Whisk remaining vanilla with confectioners' sugar and milk in a bowl until smooth. Transfer about 1⁄4 cup icing to another bowl. Stir yellow food coloring into the larger amount and red coloring into the smaller amount, making a pale pink icing. Spread a layer of yellow icing over cookies and place a dot of pink icing in the center of each; let icing set before serving.

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