Fancy Sugar Cookies

A few years ago, we made sugar cookies using edible wafer paper to add pretty pictures to the top of the cookies. It was kind of a process, but they made for the prettiest cookies. I used royal icing here, but wafer paper also works with fondant, in case you ever want to use it that way.

Karrie's Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
2 cups butter or margarine, softened
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (or almond flavoring)
1 pinch salt
7 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixed with baking powder and salt. Roll out the sugar cookie dough and cut out cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake (in fact, you don't even want these cookies to start to brown).

Source: My Mom's friend, Karrie. When we got the recipe from her, she called them "John's Sugar Cookies." I don't know who John is, but he knows how to make a good sugar cookie.

Notes: Who doesn't love sugar cookies? These are awesome. This is the recipe I used this time.

No Fail Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream sugar and butter until fluffy, about five minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.

Put a handful of the freshly made dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Put the rolled dough, including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. Your dough will be chilled and ready to cut and bake with no wait and no added flour! Repeat with scraps after cutting cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Let cool. Recipe makes 8 dozen 3" cookies.

Source: Fancy Flours website. You can find it here.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Wilton Meringue Powder
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 1 lb.)
5 tablespoons water

Directions:

In large bowl, beat all ingredients at medium speed of stand mixer until icing forms peaks and loses its sheen, 7-10 minutes. If using a hand mixer, beat at high speed 10-12 minutes. If peaks are not forming, increase the mixer speed and continue to beat.

To prevent drying, cover the bowl with a damp cloth while working with icing.

Makes about 2 3/4 cups of icing.

Source: Wilton. You can find it here.

Notes: I prefer to use an egg white substitute meringue powder for royal icing for cookies. It's just easier, and then you also don't have to worry about consuming raw egg. If you aren't planning to eat it (like for a gingerbread house), royal icing using egg whites is great.

Fancy Wafer Paper Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

Baked sugar cookies (using your preferred recipe, cut the cookie shapes to match the wafer paper shapes and the number needed)
Royal icing
Wafer paper pictures
Scissors
Light corn syrup or clear piping gel
Decorator brush
Wax paper
A lot of free counter space

Directions:

Frost cookies by first piping an outline around each of the cookie's edges. Once all of the cookies have an outline frosting border, pipe frosting within the border of each cookie, using a fine knife or toothpick to spread the frosting evenly over the cookie. Avoid overfilling with frosting. You don't want the frosting to spill over the border. Don't stack the cookies until after they have dried. They need to be laid out in one layer while the icing dries.

Allow iced cookies to dry completely overnight.

Cut the wafer paper that you plan to use to size using scissors.

Brush corn syrup or clear piping gel onto the back of the wafer paper (like you would glue) with your decorator brush. Carefully place the wafer paper onto the cookie to center it as desired. Press down the edges to make sure that the wafer paper completely adheres to the cookie. Use a paper towel to smooth the surface of the wafer cookie. Turn the cookie over onto a clean piece of waxed paper to allow the picture to set for about 10 minutes. Turn the cookie back over and allow to dry completely.

Once the wafer paper is completely dry, you can pipe, frost, or decorate borders onto your cookie, if desired. Or you can leave it as is.

Source: Fancy Flours website. They have step by step pictures with their instructions that are very helpful. You can find it here.

Notes: Here are a couple of links for edible wafer paper that I used. They have so many options. They even have great ones for Halloween, Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, and more. If you just search for "edible wafer paper," you will see all of their selections. 

North Pole Postage Stamp edible wafer paper.

Merry Christmas Wreath edible wafer paper.