Description
These Christmas Lights Royal Icing Sugar Cookies are a festive and delicious treat perfect for the holiday season. The buttery sugar cookie base is topped with colorful royal icing ‘lights’ for a fun and eye-catching decoration.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookies:
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Royal Icing:
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 6 tablespoons warm water (plus more as needed)
- Gel food coloring (red, green, blue, yellow, black)
- Mini chocolate chips or black icing for light ‘sockets’
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Prepare the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.
- Roll and cut: Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about ¼ inch thickness. Use a light bulb-shaped or standard round cookie cutter to cut out cookies.
- Bake: Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 8–10 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Prepare the icing: For the royal icing, beat powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water together in a stand mixer on low until smooth, then increase speed and mix for about 5 minutes until stiff peaks form. Divide and tint icing with food coloring.
- Decorate: Use black icing to draw a line across each cookie to resemble a string. Pipe small colored lights along the string and let dry completely before serving or storing.
Notes
- If you don’t have meringue powder, pasteurized egg whites can be used according to royal icing recipe instructions.
- Let the icing dry overnight for best results.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 160
- Sugar: 17g
- Sodium: 65mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 23g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
