Does anyone really need an excuse for sugar cookies? My friends recently gave me the cutest champagne flute cookie cutters, so it gave me the perfect excuse to make sugar cookies! Growing up, there was a bakery next to my mom’s office that sold these thick, soft, delicious, super moist sugar cookies coated in royal icing, and I would constantly beg my mom to bring one home for me. Ever since, I’ve tried to mimic those sugar cookies at home. This recipe does the trick and the result is what I think of as the perfect soft sugar cookie.
Note that I can bake sugar cookies nearly perfectly, but decorating them is another story! It’s hard! I just kind of winged it here and piped royal icing around the edges, and tinted the rest of the icing with a pinch of turmeric for color to make the champagne filling. I also sprinkled on some pearl sprinkles to look like little bubbles. They’re cute, but these cookies are no works of art! Regardless, they taste delicious so your family and friends will love them.
Sugar Cookies:
- 1 cup + 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon water
Royal Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons merengue powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3+ teaspoons of water
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the egg yolk and mix to fully combine. Add all of the flour mixture in 2-3 batches, and beat just until blended. The dough will be crumbly, so add in the tablespoon of water and mix to distribute it throughout the dough. It will still be fairly dry, but should hold together when you squeeze it.
Split the dough in half and place half of the dough on a floured surface. I usually put a large piece of parchment paper down and put flour on top of that for easy clean up.
Make sure you use enough flour on your work surface and rolling pin to ensure that the dough doesn’t stick to anything. If you don’t use enough flour, your dough will become a sticky mess.
Working with one disk at a time, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out with your favorite festive cookie cutters. I used my new champagne flute cookie cutters, but you can use whatever you like. There a lot of fun cookie cutter sets out there, so have fun with it! Note that I was able to cut out 17 champagne cookies from this dough. I would say depending on the cookie cutter you use, you will get about 12 cookies with a fairly big cookie cutter, or up to 24 cookies if you’re using a mini sized cookie cutter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Let cool on pan for at least 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
To make the icing, mix the powdered sugar, merengue powder, and cream of tartar in a small bowl. Note that the merengue powder helps the icing harden and set, and the cream of tartar adds a bit of tang to the icing which I think really enhances the flavor. Start adding the water in one teaspoon at a time and whisk until a glossy and smooth icing forms and you get the consistency that you want (it should be about the consistency of glue).
NOTE*** the recipe calls for water and you can use 100% water in your icing, or you can sub half of the water for a white or rose wine. I actually used rose wine because I had a bottle opened and I though it would be fun since the cookies are shaped like champagne flutes. This is totally optional but a fun take on the champagne cookies!
I left just under half of the icing natural colored to pipe the shape of the glass, then I tinted the rest to act as the champagne. I don’t like using food coloring or dyes, so I used a pinch of turmeric powder to color these. The turmeric adds a touch of color but no distinct flavor.
NOTE** This icing recipe is a guideline, and I tend to add more powdered sugar/water depending on what I want to do with the icing. If you want it thicker, add more sugar. If you want it a little thinner and runnier, add more water or wine ¼ tsp at a time.
Make sure the cookies are fully cooled before you ice them. If you ice them when they are warm, the icing will just run off. You can have fun decorating the cookies and spend time with details, or if you want something simple and beautiful, just pick one color icing, and using a knife, frost all of the cookies in the same color for a cool, monochromatic look.
I put each color of icing in a piping cone and cut a tiny hole in the corner to use it as a piping bag to pipe the icing onto these cookies, but you could definitely just frost these cookies with a knife.
[Click here for a tutorial on how to make your own piping bag out of parchment paper! This is what I do.]
Whichever icing method you use, these sugar cookies will look and taste great!
Let the iced cookies set up and dry for about an hour so icing dries, then enjoy!