angel cookies
Dec. 27th, 2015 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asakiyumeI only have made a few of these so far--just enough to take to my dad--but I hope to make more.
So... here are the cookies just baked. You can tell some got rolled thinner than others. You can maybe see that some of them have heads tipped up, some down, some with wings out, some with wing close to the body, etc. I also flipped two when I put them on the cookie sheet, which I don't usually do, but might try doing more of, because then they can face in different directions.
Here they are with white frosting on them. When the frosting dries, you can paint them.
And here they are painted. They've been rearranged here, because I started to stack them in a box to take to my dad's and then remembered I wanted to take the picture.
We ate these up really quickly! But I have more in the fridge to decorate.
... It's very misty today. It's a good day for being tree tips, all vague and interphase.
Happy December 27th.
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no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 11:02 am (UTC)-a stick and a half of butter (so that's a quarter plus an eighth of a pound, or a half cup plus a quarter of a cup)
-one and a quarter cups of sugar
-one egg, plus one egg yolk [but this, I believe, is so you can use the white for a glaze, which we're not going to do, so you can just throw in two eggs--I have]
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 teaspoon lemon zest (very important for nice lemony flavor)
-1/4 teaspoon salt (I usually leave this out)
-3 cups flour (about 2 and a half for the recipe and then a half cup for flouring surfaces when you're rolling out)
Directions:
preheat oven to 400 F (so, a pretty hot oven)
cream the butter and sugar
add the eggs
add the vanilla, salt (if you're adding), and lemon zest
add about 2 1/2 cups of the flour
chill in fridge for about an hour --I usually divide the dough into two parcels and flatten it out when I'm chilling it, so that it'll be easier to roll when the time comes
roll them out, cut out the cookie shapes.
the dough gets too soft or your cookie sheet is full, return it to the fridge and take out the other packet (if your sheet isn't full yet) --in other words, cool the dough whenever it gets too warm
Cook for about 8 minutes. They burn easily
Let the cooked cookies cool before you ice them
**Icing**
confectioner's sugar (about a cup)
boiling or recently boiled (hot) water (very little: maybe a couple of tablespoons. At a very little at a time, because if you add too much, you need to add tons of confectioner's sugar to get it balanced again)
almond extract (about a quarter of a teaspoon)
... I do this by eyeballing it. You want an icing that looks white but is not too thick. It should NOT be the consistency of cream cheese; that's too thick. But if it's so thin that it's grey and drips right off the cookie like water, then it's too thin. You want it to apply smoothly and slickly, but to appear white.
Once you have it mixed up, ice the cookies
Let the icing harden--about six hours. If they don't harden, then when you try to paint them, the paint breaks the surface of the icing and goes underneath and you have a horrible mess. Ask me how I know...
If they work for you, do post pictures! I know they'll be beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 11:18 am (UTC)I assume I can make the cookies ahead of time (and freeze them without icing, for example). Isn't that what you did? I'd like for Sprout to be able to help me, but if we do it all the same day, I wouldn't be able to do it all myself much less with "help." :)
no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 12:22 pm (UTC)But even just in a tin in the kitchen (or wherever) is fine--they last a long time without getting stale.
Message from Sprout
Date: 2016-01-01 09:37 am (UTC)(Mom here: I haven't iced them yet, but I went out and bought the brushes today [wasn't 100% sure any of my other fine-tipped brushes had never been used, so better safe than sorry]. Will apply the frosting now, so I can paint tonight because--D'OH!--forget the bit about them hardening...or maybe I'll just do it tomorrow. :P Yes, tomorrow. Frost before bed and paint tomorrow.)
Re: Message from Sprout
Date: 2016-01-01 10:42 am (UTC)I am so glad you like them! They are my favorite cookie ever. You are going to love painting them, and then eating them once they're painted, too.
Re: the planning and the waiting and all the bits and pieces: you can see how making these, while fun and rewarding, can also be stressful :-P
no subject
Date: 2015-12-31 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-31 12:32 pm (UTC)Put the food coloring in little bowls, neat (i.e., not watered down), and use v-e-r-y fine paintbrushes to do the paintings.
You're a natural for this.
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Date: 2024-12-11 11:30 am (UTC)Can't wait to make these with the kids again this year. We, as well as our neighbors and our postman, are going to be very happy.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-11 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-12 01:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-12 02:05 pm (UTC)