Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus much more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at 70 degrees
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla flavoring
- Royal icing, for decorating (see right)
Directions
Sift the wedding cake flour, baking powder and salt onto a bit of parchment paper or right into a medium bowl put aside. Beat the butter and sugar inside a large bowl having a mixer on medium-high-speed until light and fluffy, about a few minutes. Add some egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Lessen the mixer speed to low and beat within the flour mixture by 50 percent batches until just incorporated. Divide between 2 bits of plastic wrap shape into disks. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, a minimum of one hour. (The dough could be frozen for approximately 30 days thaw overnight within the refrigerator before moving.)
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Dealing with 1 disk at any given time, unveil the dough on the floured surface, dusting with flour when needed, until about 1/8 inch thick. Eliminate shapes with 2-to-4-inch cookie cutters arrange 2 " apart around the prepared baking sheets. (When the dough becomes too soft while you work, go back to the refrigerator until firm.) Gather the scraps and refrigerate until firm reroll once to chop out more cookies. Chill the cutouts half an hour.
Position racks within the lower and upper thirds from the oven and preheat to 350 levels F. Bake, switching the pans midway through, before the cookies are slightly puffed and merely golden, 13 to fifteen minutes. Let awesome a few minutes around the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to awesome completely before icing.
Whisk one 1-pound box confectioners' sugar and a pair of tablespoons meringue powder inside a large bowl. Add 5 tablespoons water and beat having a mixer on medium-high-speed until soft glossy peaks form, accumulated to at least one more tablespoon water if required. Cover the bowl having a moist paper towel and plastic wrap until available to avoid the icing from becoming dry. (Makes a couple of 1/4 cups.)
"Flooding" is really a technique accustomed to cover a cookie completely with royal icing. Here is how to get it done:
Transfer about 1/2 cup from the royal icing to some resealable plastic bag and snip a little corner. Make use of this icing to pipe a skinny border round the fringe of each cookie. Let looking for a couple of minutes. Thin the rest of the icing having a couple of drops water until it is the consistency of syrup.
Place 1 / 2 of the thinned icing inside a resealable plastic bag and tint the remainder with red and/or eco-friendly gel food coloring. Transfer the coloured icing to bags. Snip a large part from the white-colored icing bag and pipe an ample amount within the border of every cookie.
Utilizing a small offset spatula or the rear of a spoon, spread the icing to pay for the cookie. Decorate using the colored icing as the white-colored icing continues to be wet. Allow the cookies set at 70 degrees, a minimum of one hour.
Photograph by Andrew Purcell
