It’s week two of December and time for another round of Christmas cookies. These next ones are the perfect sugar cookies for cutouts. With the use of an actual vanilla bean to make the dough they have lots of flavor as opposed to the plain sugar cookie cutouts you’re probably used to.
Instead of using the white chocolate to coat these cutouts as the recipe demands, we prefer to decorate our cookies in fancy ways using a super thin frosting which you literally paint on your cookies (with clean, unused paint brushes of course!).
With lots of colors, sprinkles and other edible embellishments these cookies are fun for the whole family to decorate. So say goodbye to those tasteless sugar cookies which are difficult to decorate and say hello to these tasty, beautiful Christmas sugar cookies.
Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart Living)
Ingredients for Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies:
1 vanilla bean
¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Directions for Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies:
1) Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Carefully scraped out seeds using a small sharp knife. Set seeds aside.
2) Beat butter in large bowl until creamy. Gradually add sugar and vanilla bean seeds, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract, mixing well.
3) Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until smooth. Shape dought into four discs. Wrape each in plastic wrape and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.
4) Preheat oven to 350º F (176ºC).
4) Roll each disc to ¼ inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Use your favorite holiday cookie cutters to cut out different shapes.
5) Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are very lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire racks and cool completely.
Note: We like to make these cookies in advance, freeze them and then remove them for painting the day of our Christmas party.
Ingredients for Painting Frosting:
1 large egg white
1 cup powdered sugar
Food coloring
Sprinkles and other edible cookie decorations
6) Using a hand mixer, combine egg white and powdered sugar until smooth.
7) Divide into several small bowls and using a different paint brush for each, mix in your food coloring. Be aware that after some time the frosting may form a crust or skin on top, just mix it a bit and it will return to its smooth consistency.
8) Placing your cookies on a large plate or rimmed baking sheet (so you don't get sprinkles everywhere) paint your cookies and decorate with sprinkles and other edible decorations.
