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Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies

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Festive and fun, these tender sugar cookies are decorated with vibrant royal icing to look like twinkling Christmas lights.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 cups all purpose flour (2 pounds)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (1 pound)
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 16 ounces powdered sugar (1 pound)
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon meringue powder
  • 1/3 cup water, plus more if too thick
  • Food coloring (Wilton icing gel recommended)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  2. In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Using a whisk, stir the dry ingredients to combine and remove any lumps.
  4. Set the flour mixture aside.
  5. In a large bowl, add the softened butter and granulated sugar.
  6. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
  7. Add the room temperature eggs and vanilla extract to the butter mixture.
  8. Beat for another minute until well combined.
  9. With the electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the reserved flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
  10. Blend until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
  11. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a large piece of parchment paper.
  12. Use your hands to knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth.
  13. Divide the dough into two equal sections.
  14. Wrap each section of dough tightly with parchment paper.
  15. Place the wrapped dough in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.
  16. To roll the dough, place one section of chilled dough between two pieces of parchment paper.
  17. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough until it is between 1/8" and 1/4" thick.
  18. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into desired shapes.
  19. Carefully remove the excess dough from around the cut shapes, leaving the shapes on the parchment paper.
  20. Transfer the parchment paper with the cut-out cookies directly onto a cookie sheet.
  21. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown.
  22. Let the baked cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet before decorating.
  23. Repeat with the second section of dough and any scraps.
  24. For the royal icing, place the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and 1/3 cup water in a large bowl.
  25. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 6 minutes until very thick and fluffy.
  26. Add 4-5 tablespoons of additional water to the icing and mix to combine.
  27. This is your medium consistency icing (it should be like toothpaste).
  28. Take half of the medium consistency icing and transfer it to a separate bowl.
  29. Add another 1-2 tablespoons of water to this second bowl of icing to create a thinner consistency.
  30. This is your flood consistency icing (it should run off a spoon like Elmer's glue).
  31. Divide and color the icing as desired using food coloring.
  32. Add the medium consistency icing to a piping bag with a tiny tip cut off.
  33. Pipe an outline around the outer edge of each cooled cookie.
  34. Fill in the outlined area with the flood consistency icing.
  35. (Optional: Pour flood icing into a plastic squeeze bottle for easier distribution).
  36. Let the flood icing dry for about an hour.
  37. Once the flood icing is dry to the touch, add decorations (like light bulb details or strings) using the medium consistency icing.
  38. Allow all decorated cookies to dry completely before storing.

Notes

Measure flour by weight (2 pounds) for best accuracy.
Chill dough for at least 30 minutes to prevent spreading.
Use parchment paper when rolling for easy handling and cleanup.
Ensure cookies are completely cool before applying royal icing.
Start with a very small snip when cutting the piping bag tip for outlining.

Find it online: https://homecookstudio.com/christmas-lights-sugar-cookies/