I have been making these since I was a child. They started with a recipe from one of my children’s cookbooks, that I adapted over the years to its current form. My grandmother was a professional cake decorator, and this is her icing recipe. –Keely
Ingredients
cookies
- 4 cups flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ sticks butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
icing
- 2 lbs powdered sugar
- 1 cup shortening
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond
- 1 teaspoon butter extract
Instructions
Cookie Dough
Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Beat butter and shortening for 30 seconds; add sugar and bet until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Wrap in wax paper and chill for at least 3 hours.
Bake Cookies
Preheat oven to 375º. Roll dough in batches on floured surface until ¼” thick; cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Bake for 8 minutes, then cool on wire racks.
Icing
Beat shortening; add powdered sugar and milk. Add extracts, and beat until well combined. Color icing and decorate.
Tips
This makes a LOT of cookies, which was one of my first recipe modifications. These are too much work to only bake a few cookies!
I usually spread the work out over 2 to 3 days. I’ll make the dough the day ahead, then bake the cookies. You can store the un-iced cookies in an air tight container, then decorate the following day if you wish.
If adding detail with a decorator bag and tip, you may need to refrigerate the icing for a very short bit if it becomes too soft. Do not refrigerate for too long, or you will have the opposite problem.