💖 February warrants love shaped cut out cookies! 💖 …and you can change the shape for any season! 🍍

For the holidays I love making tic-tac-toe cookies. I don’t attach the M&Ms so that you can play before you eat!

These sweet treats are as fun to make as they are to eat and my friend Kicki just taught me some new flaweless tricks!

Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

*NOTE: For Gluten-Free just substitute King Arthur GF All-Purpose Flour - works Flawelessly!

METHOD

1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until pale and creamy, about 4 minutes.

2. Add egg and vanilla extract; beat until incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Gradually add dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.

5. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a 1-inch thick disk and wrap with plastic wrap.

6. Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill for 2-3 hours.

7. Once dough has finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

8. Generously dust a clean surface, lined with parchment paper, with flour.

9. Unwrap one of your cookie dough disks and place onto the surface.

10. Lightly flour the dough and roll it out to 1/4" thick.

11. Continue to add flour as needed both on top of and beneath the dough so that it doesn't stick.

12. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Then use a spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet until all your dough is used up.

13. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until bottom edges just begin to turn light golden brown.

14. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before moving and frosting.

Royal Icing - for piping and flooding

INGREDIENTS

4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar

3 Tablespoons meringue powder

9–10 Tablespoons room temperature water

gel food coloring

METHOD - for two colors plus white

1. In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix sugar and meringue powder to combine.

2. Add 9 tablespoons of water and mix, on high speed, for about 4 minutes.

3. At this point, when lifting the whisk up off the icing, it should drizzle down and smooth out within 10 seconds. If it’s too thick, add a touch more water. If it’s too thin, add a little more sifted confectioners’ sugar.

4. Divide icing into three bowls. You can do this evenly or if the decorating idea you have in mind is dominant of one color, give one bowl a bit more.

5. Add a few drops of gel food coloring to two of the bowls.

6. Stir to combine each and continue to add drops of food coloring until you LOVE your colors! Keep your bowls covered with a lid or plastic wrap whenever your not actively working with them!

7. Now we’re going to divide our icing once again! Pour a little less than half of each bowls icing into three separate squeeze bottles. These will be your “piping” bottles so fit them with a small opening tip. Cover the tip with a cap or plastic wrap and set aside.

PRO TIP: I recommend using squeeze bottles with metal tips over piping bags but I do like to fill my squeeze bottles using piping bags as it makes for less mess!

To make the flooding icing:

1. Add water, tiny drop by tiny drop, to each bowl and stir well to combine.

2. You’ll know when your at “flooding” consistency if when you pick up your stir spoon, the icing flows off smoothly and the surface smooths out in about 3 - 5 seconds.

3. Pour icing into three more squeeze bottles. These will be your “flooding” bottles so fit them with a medium opening tip. Cover the tip with a cap or plastic wrap.

To Decorate:

1. Using your piping bottles, color of choice, pipe a frame line around the edge of the cookie.

2. Allow the tip of the bottle to be up above the cookie as this will make it easier to apply a smooth and straight line.

3. Tap the tip of the bottle down to change directions.

4. When you reach the end of the frame ease up on the squeeze to avoid a “glop” at your beginning/end point.

5. Use a toothpick to smooth out or correct any irregularities.

6. Set cookie aside to dry; about 20 minutes.

7. After the piping frame is set on all your cookies, you can “flood” your cookie using your flooding bottles, color of choice.

8. Generously squeeze icing within the piping frame and using a little spatula or toothpick, stir and smooth to combine into a flat surface.

9. Set cookie aside to dry; about and hour.

10. At this point you may be done but the possibilities are endless. Add layers with your piping icing, add candy or sprinkles, really anything!