Savory Stiletto

Something about the holidays makes me want to bake cookies. All different types normally, but this year, the only kind I felt like making were sugar cookies. With edible glitter. Because I think that glitter makes everything BEAUTIFUL! The restaurant I work at has the most amazing Christmas decorations (almost as awesome as my lovely Christmas tree, but not quite…). The restaurant has Christmas trees made out of FORKS! They are so cool! And covered in glitter, which means there is glitter EVERYWHERE! I love it!!!! Some say I have a strange obsession with glitter. I don’t know why anyone would think that…I mean, I only walk into the restaurant everyday and sprinkle glitter all over my hair and chest. That’s normal…right?

Back to the edible glitter. Apparently, that’s called sugar….I think edible glitter sounds much funner! The only place I could think of to find edible glitter in a variety of colors was one of the greatest stores on earth, Williams-Sonoma. I could honestly spend my entire paycheck in that store in under 5 minutes. After wandering aimlessly through the store for the better part of an hour, I found exactly what I was looking for. Shelves and shelves of different colored sugars. There were beads too!! And the colors were so beautiful! I couldn’t decide on just one or two different colors, no no. I bought 6. And more cookie cutters. Eh, it’s the holidays, I’ll just chalk this one up to an early Christmas present to myself.

Before I give you my yummy recipe, let me tell you about a little thing called a cookie exchange. The first time I decided to participate in one, I was young and naïve. Well, I was 20, but that seems pretty young! Anyway, I signed myself up to make 15 dozen cookies! That’s a lot…like 180 cookies! At first, I had high hopes for these cookies. I should have known things weren’t going to turn out great when I realized I had no rolling pin, so I improvised with a bottle of wine. Here’s a roundup of the evening. Oven catches on fire, I collapse on the kitchen floor surrounded by flour (can you even imagine) crying on the phone with my mom while my cat is stealing the cookies that turned out decent/edible and was hiding them in his ‘house’. Needless to say, my cookies for the exchanged ended up being the slice and bake Pilsbury ones.

I’d say I’ve come a long way from that night. There were no fires, no breakdowns in piles of flour, no cat stealing cookies. In fact, it was pretty uneventful, but I am ok with that! Savor these delicious cookies with eggnog or ice cold milk!

Scrumptious Sugar cookies with Edible Glitter and Royal Frosting

• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 ½ sticks butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder 
• 1 large lightly beaten egg
• 2 TBS milk or cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Wisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Cream together the sugar and the butter. SLOWLY add the dry ingredients until it comes together. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk until incorporated.

Transfer dough to work surface, shape into two discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. I left mine in the fridge overnight and it was perfect!

Royal Icing

(from The Food Network)

• 3 oz pasteurized egg whites
• 1 tsp (I used 2) vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• Food coloring (optional)

In a large bowl of a stand electric mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Gradually add the confectioners sugar and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Add food coloring if desired.

Transfer frosting to piping bag or zip lock baggie with the tip cut off.

My thoughts:

Normally, sugar cookies are crunchy and fall apart when you eat them, not fun. These were crisp on the edges, but really held together nicely and just melted in your mouth. Even two weeks later (yup, they lasted that long! I’m not sure how, but they did!), they were STILL a little chewy. This is the best sugar cookie recipe I have found, so I apologize for getting this out there after the holidays, but is there ever NOT a great time to make cookies? Didn’t think so!