Football sugar cookies

That Steelers loss the other week hurt. (Didn't hurt too much since they didn't exactly play well, but it still hurt.) I made these cookies for the big game, and was really happy with how they came out.

Once again, I used this sugar cookie recipe. I cut the cookies into jersey and football shapes. For the royal icing, I added in 1/2t of lemon extract to liven up the flavor. Once the outline icing was ready, I separated out two small bowls of it (for the lettering), and divided the rest between two larger bowls. Using the small bowls and food coloring gel, make one bowl yellow and one bowl white. In the larger bowls, dye one bowl brown and one black.

For the jersey cookies:

Once dry (overnight), use the yellow and white icing to write in player names and numbers, and to decorate the arms of the jerseys.

For the football cookies: 

Thin the icing, then used it to flood the cookies.

Once dry, use the white icing to decorate the stitching.



And if you're a Steelers fan (or just a football fan in general), check out this post from Bakerella. So amazing I was speechless.

Pittsburgh's Going to the Super Bowl!

I've had a sugar cookie recipe that I've been wanting to try for a while, and since I've also been wanting to retry royal icing after my slightly failed attempt, I thought I'd make some Steelers cookies for the game this past weekend.

My royal icing skills still need some major work - I don't think my hand will ever be steady enough to make it work - but the cookie base this time was much better than the last. If I were to make these again, I'd fill the cookies entirely in white royal icing and then draw on the whole logo using edible markers. I'm thinking I might have to try that for the Super Bowl!

The number of cookies this recipe makes will vary based on the size of your cookie cutters. I used a large round cutter and got about 20 cookies. The dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months if you don't want to use it all at once.

Steelers Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

For the cookies:

3/4c softened butter

1c sugar

1t baking powder

1/4t salt

2 eggs

1t vanilla

2.5c flour

For the icing:

4T meringue powder

1/2c water, scant

2.5c confectioners sugar

1t light corn syrup

Divide dough in half. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Roll dough to about 1/4" thick. Cut out using cookie cutters or knife.

Let cookies cool completely before decorating.



Add corn syrup. Increase speed and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 mins.

Using this icing, pipe the outline of the cookies, and the logo outline.

Add water to the icing, one tablespoon at a time, until it is the consistency of syrup.

Cover the icing with a damp towel and let sit for several minutes.

Run a rubber spatula through the icing gently to remove air bubbles.

Separate out a small portion of the icing into three bowls, leaving most of the icing in the main bowl.

Transfer the white icing to a squeeze bottle and use it to fill the white areas of the logo.

(Don't fill the whole way - fill in lines and use a toothpick to spread to the edges.)

Add gel food coloring to the other three bowls - yellow, red, and blue.

Repeat the process of filling the cookies using the colored icing.

Let sit overnight.

Using an edible food marker, write in the team name and outline the logo.

Relay for Life

A few weeks ago I participated in Relay for Life. My sister started a team 5 years ago when our grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and our family and friends have been participating ever since. It always amazes me how many people are willing to donate their time and money to the event - it shows how many people have been impacted in some way by cancer and want to do what they can to find a cure.

Since this year's theme was birthdays, I decided to make cut out cookies shaped like birthday cakes and birthday presents. I didn't want sugar cookies so I tried making chocolate chip ones using the recipe from the Toll House chocolate chips bag. Unfortunately, they turned into big blobs so I tried using decorating icing to show the shapes. I've made cut outs with chocolate chip cookies before and they worked, so I'm guessing you need a recipe that's more of a sugar cookie base with the chocolate chips added.

I also made some ribbon cut out cookies, using a sugar cookie recipe and royal icing to decorate. For the royal icing, I bought Wilton's meringue powder and used the recipe included, but added a little bit of vanilla extract for flavor.

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies

(from Bake at 350)

3c unbleached all-purpose flour

2tsp baking powder

1c sugar

1c butter

1 egg

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/2tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and baking powder then set aside. Cream the sugar and butter, then ass the egg and extracts. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Roll on a (heavily) floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

With the royal icing, pipe the outline of the cookies. For the icing filling, thin the icing with water, 1T at a time, until it reaches the consistency of syrup. See tips here.

I chose to color mine purple since it's the color of the ribbon for pancreatic cancer and also the color of Relay for Life. I used a purple gel food coloring. Since the icing is initially white, you can divide it and color it however you like. Once the filling is added, let sit overnight or until completely dry.

And now the finished product - royal icing is hard to work with!