What?  No one accused me of being a Merriam or a Webster.  I have been accused of spending way too much time in the kitchen, though.  Usually around holidays.  Easter and Christmas are the givens, at least on this blog, but I LOVE having some Halloween fun too.  A little goblin birdie told me it would be fun to play with royal icing for cookies, so I thought I'd give it a go.  Be gentle, I'm not a pro!

I ventured out into the intarwebz to find a royal icing recipe to whip up at home.  Annie's Eats is where I landed. Before I dashed out for powdered sugar, I may or may not have spent a solid 30 minutes browsing the site.  Annie, I'd eat everything (EVERYTHING) on there. You can view Annie's royal icing recipe here.

Side note:  venturing out into the intarwebz caused me to venture out to my local Publix three times in one day - two times more than normal in a given day. They don't think I'm weird at all​. 

As you can see, I didn't nail the consistency right away.  It should be much thicker, matte, and not so drippy.  Perfect icing never happens on the first try, that's what I say.  Thankfully, it was still thick enough to pipe outlines with, so I forged on.

​First, I piped outlines on the cookies.  Why I didn't take more pictures of that part, I don't know. These photos are from the white "bloody" cookies, so the icing is white - but if you're using color,  be sure to add it before putting the icing in a piping bag.  If you want to see more of the outlining process, check out Annie's awesome autumn cookies.  In any case, you do this for two reasons:  One, to give yourself a predetermined area to work within and, two, so the filler icing ("flooding," but we'll get to that in a moment) doesn't leak off the sides of the cookie. 

Next up, you need to flood the area of your cookies inside the border. To be on the safe side, I let my borders dry for up to an hour before I mess around with flooding.  Royal icing is pretty thick, so you'll need to thin it out a bit before attempting this step. Add in just a teeny bit of water (less than a teaspoon at a time) and mix in thoroughly.  If you're adding color (liquid or gel), be sure to get that in there so it doesn't screw up the consistency you're going for.  You want it to run off the back of a spoon with ease.  Once you've got that down, pour your royal icing into a squeeze bottle.  You could also use a plastic zip top bag with the corner snipped off if you're feeling brave.  I wasn't in the mood to wear my icing.

By Amy Barton

It's confession time again.  Easter isn't a holiday I really go out of the way to celebrate, particularly in culinary terms.  I love (LOVE!) marshmallow Peeps just as much as the next guy (okay, probably more).  I have more jelly beans in my house than I have brains in my head.  If someone makes a gorgeous loaf of bread or hot cross buns, I'm on it.  But me?  I just don't throw on my apron for Easter-y things.

Until now.  You see, I remembered one small detail about one of my favorite cookies to make:  The batter stays a batter, it doesn't really become a dough.  So most of the time after you drop it on your baking sheet, you'll end up with some round cookies and some a little more oblong - like an egg!  

You need to know about these cookies.  I call them "lemon cookies" obviously, which doesn't do any amount of justice to their unique flavor and texture.  The best way I could try to describe them would be.... think lemon spongecake meets shortbread meets sugar cookies.  They're lemon flavored and have a slightly springy, airy quality to them.  Just slightly.  At the same time, they're not a cookie that has any rise too it, and they have that floury texture sort of more like a shortbread.  BUT they're also substantial enough to be sugar-cookie-ish.  They're awesome plain (my preference), but they also take to icing or a glaze BEAUTIFULLY.

INGREDIENTS
-  1/2 cup butter, softened (room temp)
-  1 cup sugar
-  4 eggs
-  2 1/8 cups flour, sifted
-  2 teaspoons lemon extract


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (or feel free to use a stand mixer).  Add your eggs and beat them into the butter/sugar mixture until they're blended in completely.  Stir in lemon extract.  Add the flour (sift it first!) and beat it until smooth.

Drop batter onto greased or parchment paper lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart.  Depending on the size of cookie you want, baking time will vary.  If you want a smaller, more wafer-like cookie, drop by teaspoonful and bake for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.  For larger cookies (as pictured here), drop by tablespoonful (or 2 tablespoons at a time), and bake 10-14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Allow to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing and putting on a rack to cool the rest of the way.

Once completely cooled, cookies will still be slightly tacky on the top for a short time.  It's not like your fingers will stick to the lemon cookies, but if you dropped powdered sugar or sprinkles on them.... you might end up with sweet decorations you hadn't planned on.  I happen to love these cookies as is, with the slight taste of lemon and the somewhat flour-y, delightfully unique texture.  


HOWEVER.. a little icing never hurt anyone, right?  Since I don't bake much for Easter, I don't have a lot of super spring-y decorations - so my cookies (some of them) ended up a little more on the bold color side.  They tasted good and bold, too!

After digging around, I did find some Valentine's Day decorations.  Nothing like a little culinary repurposing, eh?

The great thing about this recipe is that the cookies are fairly neutral in flavor (save for the slight lemon taste).  You can add flavored glaze, icing, or frosting.  You can cook them a little longer so they're crunchier and then dip them in coffee or tea for a fantastic breakfast treat.  You can tint them any color you'd like with food coloring.  And of course, you can decorate them for any holiday or season.  

Send me your pictures - I want to see your original spin on these cookies.  Amy@AmysTreats.com