Heat Cookies (Royal Icing)

My dance instructors had an master class to raise money to attend a special event. I offered to make cookies they could auction off, I believe they recieved $50 for the two boxes! I have done this cool trick before on royal icing for the Firework Cookies and the Leaf Cookies and just recently with the Easter Egg Cookies. I found an idea how to make hearts from dots on wet royal icing. I must say they came out stunning!

If you're in need or cookies for a party or just to eat, shoot me a msg at SweetPea Cookie Therapy. Thank you!

What you Need:
Sugar Cookie Dough (See recipe below / this is my fav)
Heart Cookie Cutter
Royal Icing - Non -colored (white), and Red (recipe below)
AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring (Red)
Pipping Bag
Toothpick

NOW most people pipe the white on the cookie, I found a while back on Pinterest the dunk  and tap way. You place the cookie in the royal icing and tap off the extra, I then put on the table and tap again so no bubbles. Take a pipping bag of red (or pink if you want) and while the white is still WET make small dots around the outside of the cookie. Take a toothpick from one dot and pull down, this will make a heart. You can connect them all together or lift after each dot and make one heart at a time. Let the cookies set up and serve, I found the best is to make these a day ahead so they have several hours to harden. NOW I LIKE thick cookies and my royal icing is a bit thicker than the normal person. So it takes longer to dry!

A look at a few of the hearts:



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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Alexis Note: I love this cookie recipe, but I add almond along with the vanilla extract. I also use clear of both.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.