Apple Snickerdoodle Sugar Cookies

Special Supplies:

*3-to-4-inch Round Cookie Cutter

*Small Apple Cookie Cutter

*Red, Green and Brown Food Coloring Paste

*Lemon Extract

*Food Safe Paint Brushes, used only for food

*Open Star Decorating Tip

*Decorating Bag

Sugar Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients:

*

*1/2 cup Butter

*1 cup Sugar

*1 teaspoon Vanilla

*1 Egg

*1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream, Sour Cream or Cream Cheese (I’ve used each one of these variations each gives the cookie a slightly different taste and they’re all yummy!) Note: If you use cream cheese use only 3 cups of flour

*3 1/4 cup any All-purpose Flour

*1 teaspoon Soda

*1/2 teaspoon Salt

Instructions:

*

In a stand mixer on medium-low speed cream together the butter and sugar, then add the vanilla, egg and cream of your choice and mix just until combined.

*

Using Sifter, sift together in a bowl the flour soda and salt and slowly add to the creamed mixture, mixing on low just until barely combined. Dough should be slightly sticky. Do Not Over Mix!

*

Then divide the dough into 3 dough balls, flatten dough balls making disk shapes. Now wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or more.

*

Remove 1 dough disk at a time from the refrigerator and rollout disk on a floured surface with rolling-pin or use 2 pieces of plastic wrap, placing the dough disk in the center of 1 of the pieces of plastic wrap and the second piece on top of the dough disk, use rolling-pin and roll out the cookie dough about 1/2 inch thick.

*

Use a cookie cutter and cut out shapes in the rolled out dough. Repeat for each dough disk. Then add to the next dough disk the scraps from the first disk or (discard scraps of dough), continue this technic until all the dough is used.

*

Place cookies on a Silpat covered half baking sheet, 12 cookies per sheet.  For best results refrigerate the cut cookies on baking sheet before baking 5-10 minutes.

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Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 425* F. oven for 8-12 minutes or barely starting to turn golden on the bottom; baking time depends on the size of cookie cutter used. Do Not Over Bake! If you do over bake they will become to hard. Cool on baking sheet.

Recipe from Tested Recipes Cookbook, Central Milling Company third edition, now out of print an old family cookbook

Snickerdoodle Frosting:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Cream Cheese (2 ounces)

2 and 1/4 sticks butter, almost room temperature

6 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

3 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Pinch of sea salt or to taste

Directions:

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment beat the butter and cream cheese 2 to 3 minutes until a light yellow color on medium speed.

Then gradually add powdered sugar alternate with whipping cream, mixing in on medium low speed.

Add vanilla and salt, taste and adjust as needed to your taste. Beat frosting another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer and stir for 1 to 2 minutes to remove air bubbles.

Add frosting to piping bag with 1M open star tip. Pipe icing in a circle around the edge of the cookie leaving 1/4-inch space around the very edge of the cookie, then on a parchment covered baking sheet add cookie frosting side down on parchment and press slightly. Repeat for each frosted cookie spacing as needed and freeze the cookies for 20 to 30 minutes or until frosting is set.

Remove set frosted cookies from the freeze and with an offset spatula smooth off the tops of each cookie. Note: Add to a glass hot water or use a small crock pot with heated water to dip the spatula in to help smooth the top of each cookie.

After smoothing each frosted cookie, return to the freeze and let them set again another 20 minutes. While cookies chill use 3 very small cups and add 1 drop food coloring to each cup. Add red first cup for apple, green to second cup for leaf and brown to third cup for stem. Then add 1/2 teaspoon Lemon extract to each cup. Stir each cup working the color into the lemon extract, there will be a glob of color after mixing, just remove and discard. set aside.

If desired remove 10 cookies at a time from the freeze and with the apple cookie cutter slightly press cutter in the center of the frosted cookie. Then outline with a toothpick in the frosting the stem and leaf and paint with prepared food colors and paint an outline of each color around the edges first. Then paint the centers of Apple (red) Leaf (green) and Stem Brown. Enjoy!

Also see Apple School Party

Enjoy!

Lindy