Iced Letter Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture in 2 batches and beat until just incorporated. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, lightly dust the dough with flour and roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper until about 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate until slightly firm, about 15 minutes. Cut out shapes using 2-to-4-inch cookie cutters and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Gather the scraps and refrigerate until firm; reroll once to cut out more cookies. Refrigerate the cutouts until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies, switching the position of the pans halfway through, until just golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the icing: Sift the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder into a large bowl. Beat in 6 tablespoons water with a mixer on medium speed until soft, glossy peaks form. Spread on the cookies and decorate with nonpareils. Let set, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Cookies: In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic and freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Remove 1 disk of dough; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting with flour as needed. Cut shapes with 2 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets (if dough gets too soft, refrigerate 10 minutes). Reroll scraps and cut more shapes. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
• Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. (If bubbles form, tap baking sheet firmly against oven rack a few times during baking.) Let cool completely on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to 1 week.
• Royal Icing: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine confectioners' sugar and egg white on low speed. Add a scant 1/4 cup water, then increase speed to medium-high and mix until icing holds a ribbon-like trail on surface for 3 seconds when you raise paddle, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and mix 1 minute more to eliminate air bubbles. Divide icing and add food color, a drop at a time, until desired color is reached to one half. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 3 days. Stir well before using.
• Decorating: Pour white icing into a bowl, hold a cookie face down, and gently dip it in, letting excess drip off and tapping gently to remove bubbles. Arrange iced cookies end to end. Let dry completely, then brush across each cookie diagonally with pink "paint." For gold specks, dot on edible luster dust mixed with a bit of lemon or other clear extract.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the butter in a bowl and beat it using an electric whisk until soft and creamy. Beat in the sugar, then the egg and vanilla or lemon, and finally the flour to make a dough. If the dough feels a bit sticky, add a little more flour and knead it in.
• Cut the dough into six pieces and roll out one at a time to about 5mm thickness on a floured surface. The easiest way to do this is to roll the mixture out on a baking mat. Cut out letter and number shapes (we used 7 x 4cm cutters) and peel away the leftover dough at the edges. Re-roll any off-cuts and repeat.
• Transfer the whole mat or the individual biscuits to two baking sheets (transfer them to baking parchment if not using a mat) and bake for 7-10 mins or until the edges are just brown. Leave to cool completely and repeat with the rest of the dough. You should be able to fit about 12 on each sheet. If you are using two sheets, then the one underneath will take a minute longer.
• Ice the biscuits using the pens to make stripes or dots, or colour in the whole biscuit if you like. They will keep for five days in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut out printed letters with scissors to use as stencils.
• Generously flour a rolling pin and work surface. Working with 1 disc at a time, roll dough to 1/4" thick. Place stencils over dough. Using X-acto knife, cut out letters (or use alphabet cookie cutters). If dough becomes too soft, chill until firm. Place cookies 1/2" apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill 15 minutes.
• Bake cookies until edges are light golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.
• Meanwhile, heat chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a medium saucepan of barely simmering water (do not let water touch bowl), stirring, until chocolate is melted (you can also microwave chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in short bursts until melted, stirring in between bursts). Dip tops of each letter in chocolate. Using a toothpick, drag down thin lines of chocolate to form icicle shapes. Sprinkle with sanding sugar and transfer to parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Let stand until chocolate is dry, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• For the cookie dough: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and granulated sugar together until just incorporated. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix again on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently.
• Add the flour and salt. Mix on low speed until a dough is formed and there are no longer streaks of butter in the mixing bowl. The dough will be thick and should not be sticky.
• Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Divide the dough in half, place one half on a lightly floured work surface and roll to a thickness of slightly greater than 1/4 inch. Cut out a total of 15 cookies using a 4-inch rectangular cutter. Put 7 on one baking sheet and 8 on the other. Cut out the centers from 5 of the cookies using a 2-inch rectangular cookie cutter. Chill the cut-outs for 20 minutes. Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Let the baking sheets cool, then re-line them with parchment. Repeat the rolling, cutting, chilling and baking with the remaining dough half, for a total of 30 cookies, 10 with cut-out centers.
• For the royal icing: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder on low speed until combined. Add the water and beat on medium-high speed until very stiff peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the lemon extract and beat on low speed until combined. Place 1/4 cup of icing into each of three bowls. Cover the remaining icing in the mixer bowl with a damp paper towel to prevent drying. Tint one bowl of icing with red, one with pink and one with black (leave the icing in the mixer bowl white). Add drops of water to all 4 bowls to thin the icing to flood consistency. (Check the consistency by dragging a spoon through the center of each icing; when the icing is perfect flood consistency, the indentation should completely disappear in 10 seconds. Thin with more water, or thicken with additional confections' sugar as needed.) Transfer each color of icing to a separate piping bag or decorator squeeze bottle.
• Cut a sheet of parchment paper into 10 small strips, each about 4 inches by 2 inches. Write sentiments of love on one side of each strip, such as "Love you more than cookies!" and "You're Sweet!"
• Place 10 whole rectangular cookies on a work surface covered with parchment paper. Pipe white royal icing around the outer top edge of each cookie. Place a cookie with a hollow center on top of each iced cookie. Fill each with 1 tablespoon confetti heart sprinkles. Pipe white royal icing around the outer top edges of the hollow cookies. Fold the love notes so the ink side is on the inside of the fold and will not touch the cookies. Insert a folded love note into each hollow cookie and top with a whole cookie.
• Pipe a line of white royal icing around the outer top edges of the cookies and flood the inside so that icing completely covers the top of the cookies. If there are gaps in the icing, use a toothpick to push the icing into the gaps so they are filled. Let the iced cookies stand until completely smooth and dry, about 3 hours.
• When the icing is dry, use the white royal icing to pipe a triangular envelope flap on half (five) of the cookies. Use a toothpick to scrape away the point of each triangle to make room for the seal decoration. Use the red royal icing to pipe a small seal in the middle of each envelope. Pipe white royal icing lines down from both sides of the envelope flaps to the bottom corners of the cookies to create envelope folds. Use the pink royal icing to pipe several small hearts on the envelopes. Use the food color marker to draw a perforated line across the center of the cookies with "open here" instructions.
• On the remaining cookies, pipe three equal-sized horizontal lines using black royal icing on the front centers of the cookies for address lines. Use the red royal icing to make a heart in the upper right-hand corner of the cookies for a postage stamp. Use the black food color marker to draw wavy lines to the left of the stamps. Further embellish the cookies with X's and O's in the top left corner, and add the name of the recipients to the top address line. Draw half-circle postage marks on the sides of the cookies using the food color marker or leftover black royal icing.
• Let the cookies stand until set, about 3 hours. Package the cookies in cellophane bags tied with baker's twine. If necessary, include opening instructions so the recipient will be aware of the messages inside the cookies.