Kittencal's Buttery Cut-Out Sugar Cookies W/ Icing That Hardens Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What makes cut out sugar cookies spread? ›

Cookies spread because the fat in the cookie dough melts in the oven. If there isn't enough flour to hold that melted fat, the cookies will over-spread. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough.

There are three main types of royal icing: stiff consistency, piping consistency, and flood consistency. They are used for different decorating techniques, although sometimes you can use different consistencies to achieve the same result.

Royal icing creates clean lines and takes on color to create a vibrant look. It also works for detailed piping and decorating, when you want to make a gingerbread house or small designs.

Working the dough too much.

bad habit of mixing in the dry ingredients until they were completely incorporated. And then mixing the dough even more, for no good reason. Thankfully I was eventually steered in the right direction. Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want.

Pull off the top sheet of parchment, then slide the sheet of dough onto a baking sheet, then pop it in the freezer. (You can stack as many sheets of dough onto one baking sheet as you'd like.) Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze!

To prevent this make sure the baking sheets are always at least on room temperature. Ideally you want to cut your cookies and then chill them with the baking sheet. that way the tray is still cool when it goes in the oven and the cookies have no time to spread before they are baked through.

Royal icing is made from confectioners sugar, water, egg white, and flavorings. This is the only icing that I use to decorate my cookies. The egg white is what allows it to dry hard, which is what makes royal icing so versatile.

Cookie icing can be used in the same way that royal icing can; however, it doesn't dry as hard as royal icing does. It's great for flooding cookies or piping designs into wet icing. To thin the consistency of cookie icing, just pop it in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

As mentioned above, royal icing needs to be exposed to air to be able to dry completely. By putting wet royal icing in the fridge you are not only preventing the icing from actually drying, but the humid environment will also likely make the colors bleed.

If you'd like to use cookie icing to decorate your gingerbread house, that's certainly doable; however, keep in mind that the icing will remain soft and won't dry hard like royal icing decorations.

Does Wilton cookie icing harden? ›

Wilton's RTU cookie icing does dry, but not hard like royal icing. It stays soft underneath, but dries to the touch on the surface. If you add flavor, it won't change the texture, provided you don't use more than a few drops.

Swiss meringue buttercream is probably the most standard buttercream for pastry professionals. It is incredibly smooth, making it an extremely popular choice for icing cakes. Compared to American buttercream, it has a much stronger butter flavor, but is considerably less sweet.

Refrigerating the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps to make the cookie dough firmer. Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies.

Crispy cookies are actually easier to make. Soft cookies have a water concentration of 6% or higher – moisture being the variable in texture. To make cookies crispy, add less liquid or bake it in the oven for longer to dry out the dough. Generally bake around 13-15min at 180C for a crispy cookie.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

Mixing Butter & Sugar

If your butter is under mixed, it won't have the air pockets to hold it's shape. If it's over-mixed, the air pockets decrease in size and are unable to hold their shape in the oven—causing your cookies to spread. It's best to cream butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.

Your cookies won't properly spread if your oven temperature is too high; the edges of your cookies will cook faster than the middle before they have a chance to spread properly. To avoid this issue altogether, always double-check the temperature setting on your oven before beginning any cookie-making sessions.

Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.