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Holiday Baking
BY HANNAH SCHMITT
Our cover this month features Cover Kids Search winner Nora with some festive cookies prepared and decorated by local mom Lan McCabe, owner of Sweets on the Side in Edmond. In addition to baking sweet treats for others, one of Lan's favorite pastimes is sharing her craft with others. So gather up the whole family and follow these recipes for her sugar cookies and frosting to create timeless memories at home this holiday season.
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients: • 2 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature) • 2 cups sugar • 2 large eggs • 2 tsp almond flavoring (or what you like) • 5 cups all-purpose flour • 1 tsp baking powder (optional) • 1 tsp salt Instructions: • Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low to medium speed. (Use the paddle attachment) Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you’d like a light and fluffy cookie, that’s ideal. However the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you’d like the cookie to hold its shape. • Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again. • Add flavoring.
• Preheat your oven to 350°F. • Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your cookie. • Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate.
Royal Icing Recipe
Ingredients: • 6 oz of warm water • 1 tsp of almond flavoring (or whatever you like) • 5 Tbs meringue powder • 1 tsp cream of tartar • 2 pounds of powdered sugar • 1 tsp of glycerin or 1 Tbs of corn syrup Instructions: • Place meringue powder in mixer.
• Combine dry ingredients together. (Flour, baking powder and salt).
• Add warm water & flavoring and beat with a whisk for about 30 seconds.
• Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. It’s also important at this stage not to over-mix the dough (the glutens in the flour develop and the dough can become tough).
• Add cream of tartar and whisk for another 30 seconds.
• Refrigerate dough overnight. • Roll out the dough and cut out cookie shapes, using your favorite shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and repeat. • Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to one hour to chill. They will hold their shape better when baked.
• Add all of the powdered sugar and place mixer bowl onto stand. With a paddle attachment, mix icing for 10 minutes. This will be very thick. • Add glycerin or corn syrup and beat for another two or three minutes. Again, icing will be very thick. • Add 6-10 tablespoons of water to thin out the icing. Icing will be ready when you draw a line through the icing with a knife and the line disappears.
METROFAMILY MAGAZINE
6
DECEMBER 2016
• Separate icing to different bowls and mix your holiday colors. • Place into a piping bag or individual bowls with spoons and get ready to decorate. • Put out all kinds of sprinkles, dots and sanding sugars. • Place a napkin or placemat at each child’s station. This will help when it’s time to clean up. • Have the children flood/spread the icing onto the cookies. • Let them adorn their cookies immediately with the sprinkles, dots and sanding sugars. [Editor's Note: Recipe and photos courtesy of Lan McCabe of Sweets on the Side. For more information, visit www. sweetsonthesideokc.com.]