Fancy Halloween Sugar cookies

Last week we made our annual Halloween cookies. Every year we have so much fun making the dough together, cutting out the shapes, and finally decorating them! And every year Riley gets better at her decorating skill. In the past I have taken the time to actually color the frosting orange for the pumpkins and ACTUALLY draw on the faces..but I have since decided not to use artificial food coloring in my baking, and this way Riley is more involved with making the faces! I know what you are thinking: "dont those sprinkles have artificial colors in them?" why yes, they do, but I have a large supply of them and I figured we would use up what we have and then look into getting "naturally colored sprinkles" (they are kinda pricey and not apart of my budget at the moment) 

Riley insisted on putting "clothes" on the ghost

first taste...success

Mr. Pumpkin, unsure of his future..

 I hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween! Happy baking! -Jess

Fancy Sugar Cookie Dough
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached All purpose Flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup (2sticks) unsalted butter, Room Temp
3/4 cup Organic Sugar
1 Large egg
1 tsp. good quality Vanilla Extract 

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. In bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. add vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Shape dough into two disks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour and up to 3 days. 
To bake, Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough 1/4 inch thick. cut into shapes and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm (about 5 minutes) Bake until just beginning to brown..12-15 minutes. let cool completely before frosting. 


Royal Icing  
Ingredients:
4 TBSP. Meringue Powder 
1/2 cup water
1 LB Powdered sugar 
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract 

Combine meringue powder and water, beat until combined and foamy, Sift in powdered sugar and beat until combined, add extract. if using a stand mixer, beat on high for 5 minutes until glossy, stiff peaks form. cover with plastic wrap touching icing until ready to use. Once cookies are cooled, frost them by dipping into frosting or spreading with an off-set spatula. decorate with desired sprinkles and let set uncovered over night or until frosting is dry. store in airtight container at room temp for up to 1 week. 
*NOTE: we use ganache to cover the chocolate bats, therefore I only make half this icing recipe when making Halloween cookies, however during Christmas, when we only use icing, I do make a whole recipe and still end up with some left over. enjoy!