During the holidays we always make multiple batches of decorated sugar cookies. We love the sweet almond flavor and creating designs in royal icing. Naturally, the kids love the sprinkles. This recipe made with fresh milled flour is delicious, stays soft and creates a beautiful decorated cookie.
If you’re new to fresh milled flour or unsure what this is, here is some more information to help you get started!
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Find simple designs to start. You do not have to do elaborate cookies for the to be beautiful! There are a ton of YouTube videos and tutorials for decorating cookies if you want to expand your skills! After years of owning a bakery and doing extremely intricate cookies, I have taught my kids the very simple designs can be just as beautiful! I specifically like to find designs I do not have to thin out and flood my icing in. This tends to require multiple steps and dry times. If I can pipe the design on in a stiff icing, it works great. They are also faster designs.
Table of Contents
Equipment needed to make Decorated Sugar Cookies
- Grain Mill
- Stand Mixer
- Digital Scale
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Rubber Spatula
- Small offset spatula
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Cutters
- Piping bags with tips
Decorated Sugar Cookie Ingredients
Cookie dough:
You only need a few ingredients to make these delicious cookies!
- Soft white wheat flour-Experiment with other low protein grains like barley, spelt or Khorasan
- Butter-I use unsalted for all baking but you can use salted if you prefer
- Powdered sugar–this will keep your cookies softer than granulated sugar
- Egg
- Almond Extract-you can use vanilla if you prefer
- Salt
Royal Icing:
- Egg Whites
- Powdered Sugar-Confectioners’ sugar works best!
- Almond Extract
- Food coloring
Cookie Dough
- Mill your soft white wheat into flour.
- In a stand mixer, place room temperature butter and cream until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar. Be sure to sift your powdered sugar if it is lumpy.
- Crack one egg into the mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Add salt to your flour and slowly scoop into the mixer. Mix on low speed adding one scoop at a time until all flour has been added.
- Finally, add almond extract and mix a few more seconds until combined.
- Scoop dough between 2 pieces of floured parchment paper. Roll out dough until 1/4-1/2″ thick depending on your preference. Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Remove dough from the fridge and cut into desired shapes. Place cut out cookies on a parchment lined sheet pan.
- Roll out dough scraps after cutting out the first shapes and cut shapes out of the remaining dough.
- Place cutouts into the refrigerator for 20 more minutes while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 6 minutes, rotate and bake an additional 6 minutes. You do not want to over bake your cookies so they stay soft! they should be slightly brown around the edges only.
- Remove from the hot pan and place on a wire cooling rack so they do not continue to bake once they are removed from the oven.
- Allow to cool completely before decorating.
- Make your icing while they cool.
I like to have a 1/2″ thick cookie. I think they stay softer long and the cookie to icing ratio is better in my opinion. You can certainly decide which you prefer!
Royal Icing
- Start by separating three eggs and place only the whites into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Add almond extract and whisk just until the whites are fluffy.
- Slowly add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar to the egg whites, 1/4 cup at a time. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Increase the speed once all the sugar has been added. Whisk on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes until soft peaks have formed.
- The icing at the phase will be thick and should be used to outline cookies or create designs that do not need to fill in or smooth out. When you are ready to “flood” in a design, you will want to add water to thin out the icing.
- Divide icing into small bowls and color as desired based on the designs you will create!
You can always find a recipe for buttercream icing if that’s what you prefer on your decorated sugar cookies. Here is a very simple recipe!
Of course there are a ton of other toppings my kids love!
These Piping Bags are great to have on hand during the holidays. I just snip the end off for the kids to decorate and then toss them when they are done!
Decorated Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- cookie cutters
- Digital Scale or dry measuring cups
- Piping Bags
- Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 360 grams soft white wheat flour 3 cups
- 2 sticks butter, unsalted 1 cup
- 130 grams powdered sugar 1 cup
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Royal icing
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- food coloring
Instructions
- Start by milling your soft white wheat berries.
- In your stand mixer fit with a roller or similar attachment, add the room temperature butter and cream until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar. Be sure to sift your powdered sugar if it is lumpy.
- Crack one egg into the mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Finally, add almond extract and mix a few more seconds until combined.
- Scoop dough between 2 pieces of floured parchment paper. Roll out dough until 1/4-1/2" thick depending on your preference. Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll out dough scraps after cutting out the first shapes and cut shapes out of the remaining dough.
- Place cutouts into the refrigerator for 20 more minutes while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 6 minutes, rotate and bake an additional 6 minutes. You do not want to over bake your cookies so they stay soft! they should be slightly brown around the edges only.
- Remove from the hot pan and place on a wire cooling rack so they do not continue to bake once they are removed from the oven.
- Allow to cool completely before decorating.
- Make your icing while they cool.
Royal Icing
- Start by separating three eggs and place only the whites into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Add almond extract and whisk just until the whites are fluffy.
- Slowly add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar to the egg whites, 1/4 cup at a time. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Increase the speed once all the sugar has been added. Whisk on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes until soft peaks have formed.
- The icing at the phase will be thick and should be used to outline cookies are create designs that do not need to fill in or smooth out. When you are ready to "flood" in a design, you will want to add water to thin out the icing.
- Divide icing into small bowls and color as desired based on the designs you will create!
Video
Nutrition
Frequently asked questions about Decorated Sugar Cookies
Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes, this dough will keep well raw in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month. You can also bake these and freeze them un-decorated.
My cookies spread out on the sheet?
Your dough must be cold when baked! If it is allowed to warm back up before baking, it will always spread out and lose its shapes.
How can I store my icing?
The icing will always harden up on the top and create a crispy later as it dries. In order to prevent this, always cover with plastic wrap, pressing it into the top of the icing. I fill “bullets” with icing. See in the video below.
Tips and Tricks:
-Make sure your dough is very cold before baking to create the best shapes.
-Keep royal icing covered with plastic wrap so you do not get dried chunks of icing.
-Do not add too much food color to your icing, it will bleed.
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for trying this recipe, I hope you love these decorated sugar cookies as much as my family does. If you make this recipe, please share and tag me on Instagram or Facebook! And, please leave a comment or star rating below. I love to see everyone be successful in the journey to a healthier lifestyle with fresh milled flour! Don’t hesitate to contact me with any question, chances are we will both learn something from us working through it together!
Happy Baking!
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I love these cookies so much!