Cow Cutouts – Sugar Cookies
Nothing says Christmas like sugar cookie cutouts. Nothing says dairy farmer like these gems, created to honor some of the most important ladies in your life – your cows! Guaranteed to bring smiles near and far, even from Scrooge himself.
Bake a batch of these cow cookies this year to start your own tradition. Don’t be surprised if cow cookies become a holiday request from your loved ones every year!
Cow Cutouts (Sugar Cookies)
From the kitchen of Michele Ackerman, Editorial Editor and Website Coordinator
Servings 3 dozen cows or medium-sized cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup Butter
- ½ cup Shortening
- ½ tbsp Water
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp Cream of tarter
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 3 cups Flour
Royal Icing
- 3 tbsp Meringue powder
- 4 cups Powdered sugar
- 5-6 tbsp Water
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter, shortening and water. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla; mix well. Add cream of tartar, salt and flour and mix well.
- Cover and chill dough in refrigerator at least 1 hour.
- Roll dough with rolling pin on lightly floured board and cut into shapes.
- Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in 350° oven until edges are lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes. If you'd like cookie edges a bit more browned, move cookie racks to top shelf of oven for last two minutes of baking.
- Cool on wire racks. Frost and decorate with royal icing.
Royal Icing
- In large bowl, combine meringue powder and powdered sugar until well-blended. Add enough water to make a frosting consistency; beat for 5-7 minutes. Thin royal icing with water to put it through decorating bags or flood cookies with a base coat of icing. A little water goes a long way with this icing, so add water very gradually (a few drops at a time) to achieve desired consistency. This royal icing is pure white and can be tinted with decorator food colors.
Notes
Cookies
Copyright © 2019 Jersey Journal
- I normally use this recipe, with half butter, half shortening, so cookies better hold their shape after baking. But if you'd like a richer, more dairy-dense cookies, use all butter and drop the 1/2 tablespoon of water.
- Royal icing is very stiff and dries very quickly. I usually cover my bowl with a damp towel topped with a heavy plate to keep the icing moist. As well, royal icing can clog icing tips in a heartbeat, so make sure you don’t leave tips exposed to the air for extended periods of time. There is a learning curve with royal icing, so make sure you bake a few extras cows to practice your craft. Practice makes perfect!
- For these cows, I first made an outline around the cow and udder with black icing (royal icing thinned to consistency of thick honey) using a #2 tip. Then, I flooded the inside with brown icing (consistency of thinner honey) using a #4 tip. I let this dry (about 2-3 hours), then piped black icing on the tail and immediately sprinkled with black crystals. Finally, I piped a black icing eye, pink icing on the udder and brown icing for an ear. Some cows were garnished with red swirl roses made from stiff royal icing.
- If you don’t have decorating bags and tips, you can use zip-close baggies with a small hole cut in one of the bottom corners for flooding and condiment bottles for outlines and details.
Copyright © 2019 Jersey Journal
