Sophie's Birthday Cookies

My niece Sophie's 11th birthday is this week and she's having a bunch of her friends over for a sleepover...her first ever!   She asked me if I could make some cookies for the party and of course I said yes.  I came up with these two-layer birthday cake sugar cookies since Sophie gave me carte blanche to make whichever design I wanted.  Love that she's such an easygoing kid.

The paper topper I created in Excel and printed on heavy cardstock.  I had thought about ordering them from a paper designer on etsy, but since it's such an easy design why not try myself and save a few bucks  in the process.  I think they look quite cute and finish off the cookie nicely.

Happy Birthday Sophie!  Love, O Truc

Basic Vanilla Sugar Cookie 

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla extract and combine until egg is completely incorporated.  Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until no trace of dry ingredients remain. 

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4" thickness and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Royal Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup meringue powder

water

gel food coloring

Mix powdered sugar and meringue powder in bowl of stand mixer until well combined.  Slowly add water and mix until you get the consistency you want*.  Add food coloring to achieve your desired color.

For outlining: consistency should be like glue paste

For flooding: add enough water so that the consistency is pretty runny

* Note: Royal Icing is extremely forgiving.  If you find you've added too much water and the icing is too runny, just add more powdered sugar.  Vice versa if your icing is too thick.