Christmas Sugar Cookies

Christmas is all about sharing love with your loved ones.

May your home be filled with the joy of the Christmas season. Here’s wishing you a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sharing these freshly baked Sugar Cookies from my home to yours :)

Sugar cookies are crunchy unlike normal cookies.They are baked flat on top so we can start icing on them easily.You can store them in the refrigerator for almost a week.

Makes : 12 - 15 cookies

Ingredients :

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Cornstarch - 1 tblsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 1/2 cup or 1 stick
Sugar - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Almond Extract (optional) - 1 tsp

Method :

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep it aside.

In a stand mixer use the paddle attachment and beat butter and sugar in high speed until light and fluffy.If you use a hand mixer,mix them in high speed.

Add egg and continue until you get a fluffy mixture.Add in vanilla and almond extract.

In a separate bowl mix flour,cornstarch,baking soda,salt.

Add the flour mixture slowly in batches to the wet ingredient mixture.In a low speed mix until well combined until you get a dough like consistency.

Knead gently and wrap the dough in plastic wrap.Refrigerate atleast a half hour.

Take out the dough and let it rest for 10 min.Start kneading gently.

Using a rolling pin thin out the dough on a flat surface.Use a tree shaped cookie cutter to cut of the shape.Place it on the cookie sheet leaving gap in between.

Bake for 10 min if its thin,for thicker dough bake around 11-13 min until you get a golden brown cookies.Remove the cookie from the parchment paper carefully on to a wire rack.Let it cool completely before frosting with ganache.

Cookie dough - mixed , kneaded and wrapped

Dough after refrigeration - Rolled out and cut into shapes

Cookies after baking

Frosting :

For frosting the cookies you can use royal icing,ganache or candy melts.

I have used white chocolate chips and added wilton green gel coloring to make the green colored ganache.

For chocolate ganache I have used semi sweet chocolate chips.

Heavy whipping cream - 2 cups
White chocolate chips - 11 oz
Wilton gel color green - 4-5 drops
Semi sweet chocolate chips - 11 oz

To make the ganache take a deep bottomed sauce pan,add water until half amd bring it to a boil.Place a large glass bowl on top,add the chocolate chips.Allow it to melt.Add coloring.

In a separate pan pour 1 cup heavy cream and bring it to boil.Add the cream to the chips and mix until they melt and you get a thin glossy liquid.This is the green colored ganache.

Repeat the process using the semi sweet chocolate chips to get the chocolate ganache.

Decorating the cookies :

Place the cookies on a wire rack and place the wire rack over a large pan.

Pour the ganache generously over the cookies.The extra ganache will drip down and you will get a smooth glossy finish on top of the cookies.

Sprinkle the top of the cookies immediately with any kind of sprinkles.

Allow it to set ,then transfer the cookies into the refrigerator for atleast an hour.