I just made these tasty treats over the weekend. I usually make them around the holidays with decorative holiday sprinkles. I guess I got in the fall baking mood due to the weather I used fall/halloween cookie cutters. I only had black sprinkles. I need to get orange and brown ones as well. This is Martha Stewart's recipe. She recommends making the icing with food coloring. Might be a good idea if I used orange coloring with black sprinkles. I put the leftover dough in the freezer (at least 3 batches left), so I'll try this out next time.
Here's the recipe:
Makes 4 dozen cookies
These cookies should be very pale in color
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
Royal Icing (see below)
Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the vanilla.
Sift together the flour and cornstarch. Stir thoroughly into the creamed mixture. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and form the dough into a flat disk. Wrap the dough and chill it for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes (I had to bake it at least 25 minutes for some reason). Remove from the baking sheets and cool on racks. Decorate with Royal Icing.
Royal Icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg white (use dried egg whites if you're concerned about safety)
3 or 4 drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Food coloring
Mix the sugar, egg white, and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. It should have the consistency of heavy cream (add more sugar if necessary). Add desired food coloring.