Happy Independence Day!  2011

Sugar Cookies with edible rice paper and edible glitter

My newest obsession is edible rice paper sheets. They are so much fun and totally edible. I love the retro prints. Is there anything more Americana than a good sugar cookie? You can find the edible rice paper sheets at www.fancyflours.com Sugar cookies are a fun thing for your kids to help you with. My son loves to help me decorate these whenever I make them. He likes to sprinkle on the glitter. The glitter can be found at www.thesugarart.com I like to use the white rainbow or pearl.

Sugar Cookies

3 Cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar

2 sticks cold butter

1 large egg

1  1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the extracts; mix. Add in the egg and mix. Add the flour mixture a little at a time and mix until just combined; scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is combined well. Try not to overmix the dough. There will be crumbs; take out the dough and knead softly with your hands. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Place on a Silpat sheet or parchment paper lined cookie sheet and Bake at 350 °  for 12-15 minutes until the edges just barely start to turn light brown. Let cookies cool on sheets placed on a wire rack for 10 mins. Move the cookies to wire rack to cool completely before icing. These cookies shown are 3.5 x 5 inches and this recipes makes 11 cookies. You can also find the cutter for these large cookies at fancy flours. They call the size of the cutter “postcard” size.

Frost cookies with thin consistency Royal Icing. See recipe below.

Royal Icing:

4 Tbsp. meringue powder

1/2 C cold water

1 lb. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. clear vanilla

Combine the meringue powder and H2O until foamy. Add the sugar a cup at a time [if the sugar is lumpy; make sure to sift it first] and beat on low until combined. Once all the sugar is combined, turn up the mixer to high and beat for about 5 mins. until the meringue forms stiff peaks. Add cold water one tsp. at a time until the mixture is thinned to consistency of heavy cream. Ice the cookies and let the icing dry until the icing is totally dry. This may take overnight; especially if it is foggy as it is here in San Francisco!! In my neighborhood this means pretty much every day…

Once the icing is totally dry; cut out the rice paper sheets and turn over the sheets and brush carefully with light corn syrup. Place the rice paper sheet on the cookie and run your finger over the sheet so it adheres flat. Turn over the cookie and let sit for about 30 minutes. You can pipe a decorative border along the cookies with medium stiff royal icing or decorate the edges with sanding sugar; or leave plain. Sprinkle the edible glitter over the cookies.

Happy Baking!

Suzie