The big day is nearly here and here in the xameliax household we’re incredibly excited! So before I sign off for a few days of celebrating with my nearest and dearest I thought I’d share one last festive baking recipe with you in case you fancied getting creative – my Christmas Spiced Sugar Cookies! They look amazing and have a delicious subtle spice underneath the sugar which makes for a very impressive present at the door on Christmas Day, and the best part? They’re actually really easy to make! So dig out your festive cookie cutters and ready the royal icing…on your marks, get set, BAKE!
What you need:
- 170g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 150g Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg (at room temperature)
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 281g Plain Flour
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon of Ground Ginger
- ½ Teaspoon of Nutmeg
- ½ Teaspoon of Cinnamon
How:
- Combine your sugar and softened butter in a large bowl using a wooden spoon and electric whisk until creamed together
- Whisk in your egg and vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl mix together your flour, baking powder and spices until combined and whisk half of your flour into the butter mixer
- Add the rest of the flour and mix until combined to create your cookie dough! If your dough is too sticky to handle add a little more flour until you’re able to take out of the bowl and roll easily
- Wrap your dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour – it’s essential your dough is nice and cold before you start to roll and cut (You can pop it in the freezer for half the time if you’re in a rush!)
- Roll out your dough to around 1/4 of an inch thick and cut your festive shapes ( i got my cutters from Hobbycraft and online starting at just 89p each!) and place well-spaced out on a baking tray
- Bake your cookies at 1800c/gas mark 4 for around 20 minutes or until they start to turn golden at the edges
- Pop them on a wire rack to cool completely before you start to ice
I use Silver Spoon Royal Icing to make my sugar cookies and it’s so easy to work with. Simply add 85ml of cold water to a box full of Royal Icing Sugar and mix together. I split my icing into three bowls and used Wilton Gel Colouring to create one red and one green leaving the other white before transferring into little squeezy bottles to ice!
Start by drawing an outline on your cookies leaving a gap around the edge and then ‘flood’ your cookies in the centre spreading the icing out with a toothpick so it’s not too thick – take a look at my Halloween Ginger Cookies for a bit more help on icing! I finished off my cookies with some gold and silver balls from DR Oatker and drew the more delicate patterns with writing icing tubes in various colours…easy peasy! Make sure your cookies are fully dry before popping into a sealed container – I leave mine for a good three hours on a cooling rack.
These Christmas Spiced Sugar Cookies are the perfect treat this festive season and make for a real showstopper on the table or adorable gifts for friends wrapped up in cellophane and tied with a festive bow!
Don’t forget to tweet me @xameliax with a picture if you give my Christmas Spiced Sugar Cookies a go! #christmascookies
xax