Spiced Sugar Cookies With Maple Glaze Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Beat granulated sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight until firm.
• 2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface* to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with favorite cookie cutters. Place on greased baking sheets.
• 3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• 4. For the Icing, mix all ingredients except food colors. (Stir in additional milk to thin icing or more confectioners' sugar to thicken, if needed). Place small amount of icing into small shallow bowls, using one bowl for each color desired. Stir drops of food color into icing until desired shade is reached.
• 5. To ice cookies, hold cookie by its edge and dip top of cookie into icing. (Or spoon the icing onto cookie using a teaspoon.) Place iced cookies on wire rack set over foil-covered baking sheet to dry. (The foil-covered baking sheet will catch drips.) To add decorative details to cookies, spoon tinted icing into resealable plastic bag. Snip off a tiny piece of the corner. Squeeze icing through hole in plastic bag to decorate cookies. If desired, Colored Sugar may be sprinkled onto freshly iced cookies.
• For the variations below, omit the cinnamon and the nutmeg. Use the following extract in place of the vanilla extract in the cookies:
• Almond Holiday Sugar Cookies: Use 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Almond Extract.
• Orange Holiday Sugar Cookies: Use 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Orange Extract.
• Lemon Holiday Sugar Cookies: Use 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, stir together cookie mix, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Add butter and egg; mix until dough forms a ball.
• On floured surface with rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with assorted cookie cutters; place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• In small bowl, beat powdered sugar and syrup with whisk until smooth. Gradually add water, a few drops at a time, beating until a thick glaze forms. Spread glaze over cooled cookies. Decorate with sanding sugars, sprinkles and chocolate chips.

Steps:

• Roasted Pepper -- This is the first thing I make. Heat the oven to 450 and put the pepper right on the middle rack and roast until good and charred on all sides. Remove and wrap with a small piece of plastic wrap. After 5 minutes or so, remove the pepper, peel the skin off, remove the ribs and seeds and fine chop.
• Sauce -- To a small pot, add the butter and bring to medium heat. Add in the shallot, garlic and jalapeno (you can use 1/2 of the minced pepper if you don't want it too hot) but the roasted pepper has a mild flavor. Cook on medium just until the onion is translucent, you don't want to brown them. Then, deglaze the pan with the bourbon. Don't forget to remove the pot from the stove top when you add any alcohol. Return to the stove, reduce the heat to medium low/low and cook, 30 seconds if that. Add in the brown sugar, maple syrup, a pinch of the red pepper and a pinch of salt. Bring the sauce to a low boil (not rolling) and cook for about 5-6 minutes.
• Done -- The sauce will be thin, but will thicken upon cooling. When you remove the sauce from the heat, taste for any additional seasoning. Once it thickens, it will coat the back of a spoon. Make sure to use the glaze cooled.
• Options -- If you want, you can add in pecans at this point, but that is just an option. Just brush on the fish, meat or chicken as it bakes or grills. ENJOY!