Christmas Sweater Cookies
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 1.5 hours decorating time
Cooking time: 15 minutes
- 85g/3ozs butter, softened
- 140g/5ozs white caster superfine sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 180g/6ozs all-purpose flour (or a bit more, I needed about 30g more for this batch)
- 200g/7ozs. icing or confectioners sugar, sifted
- 1 egg white
- Red, green, blue and brown/black food colouring
- Tiny pearl sprinkles, sugar snowflakess
Step 1 - In an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until pale (about 4 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. On slow speed or by hand add the flour and mix until just combined. Roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Step 2 - Cut out either using a sweater cutter or using a gingerbread cutter trimming the head and legs off. Bake at 200C/400F for 10 minutes or until golden and baked. Cool completely.
Step 3 - Make the royal icing. Place the icing sugar in a food processor and process until all lumps disappear. Add in the egg white-you want the icing to be stiffish and pipeable so add more icing sugar if needed or a sparing drop of water or lemon juice if it is too stiff. Divide the royal icing into five bowls and tint red, green, blue and brown or black and leave one white.
Step 4 - Place a couple of teaspoons of all 5 colours into piping bags (see how to make these piping bags here). Pipe an outline around each cookie in blue, red, green and white stiff icing. Wait until set and then add a couple of tiny drops of water to the remaining bowls of royal icing and then "flood" the cookie and allow to set (may take a few hours).
Step 5 - Decorate any way that you like-I made reindeers, Christmas trees, Xmas pudding, snowmen and Christmas lights. Set completely.