Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

After seeing so many beautifully decorated sugar cookies over the past year on some of my favorite food blogs, I decided it was time I tried to make some too. I am pretty proud of myself. For my first attempt, these Christmas trees look pretty good.

I loved these little candy balls and think they make great ornaments. I got them from a Wilton's gingerbread house kit. My kids decorated the house, but I saved a few of these for the cookies :)


They both LOVED decorating the gingerbread house. I got this kit at Micheal's for around $4 (with my coupon). A great deal for an activity that kept them BOTH occupied for almost 45 minutes.


The cookies...all wrapped up and ready to go!!



Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract

Parchment paper

Directions:

-In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take about 3 minutes.
-Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.
-Add the flour mixture slowly. (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)
-Blend until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
-Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a piece of parchment paper.
-Using your hands, knead the dough a few times.
-Place the dough in a large plastic (Ziploc type) bag and refrigerate for about 2 hours. If you want to speed up the chilling process, place the bag of dough in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Just don't forget it in the freezer, or it will become to firm to work with (and then you'll have to wait for it to thaw).
-When it's almost time to remove the dough from the refrigerator (or freezer), preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
-When the dough has chilled and is firm, take out about half of the dough, leaving the rest in the refrigerator (until your ready to work with it).

Source: Glorious Treats

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons Meringue Powder (I use Wilton Brand)
4 cups (about 1 pound) powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons warm water

Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
*Make sure all bowls and utensils are totally grease-free or your icing will never reach proper consistency.
Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring.

For more details on how to decorate with royal icing, click HERE.