Cat Sugar Cookies Recipes

CAT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to just under 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out cookies with a 4-inch cat-shape cookie cutter, transferring cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets as you work. Roll out the scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Chill cookies in freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake cookies, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

KITTY COOKIES

Steps:

• Stir together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and beat on low, scraping the bowl once, to make a smooth dough.
• Remove the dough from the mixer and divide in half. Add the orange zest and orange gel food coloring to one half of the dough, kneading to incorporate, but don't incorporate the food coloring fully, in order to achieve a marbled look. Knead the teal food coloring into the other half of the dough. Wrap and refrigerate the teal dough.
• Lay a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the orange dough to about 1/2-inch or a bit thicker. Use a small kitty face cutter (around 1 1/2 inches in diameter) to cut out as many faces as you can and transfer to the parchment paper. Push together the scraps, then roll and cut again. Brush the faces with a little cold water and stick them all together into a log 8 to 9 inches in length. Refrigerate or freeze until very firm, 1 hour in the fridge or 30 minutes in the freezer.
• Once the orange log is firm, cut the teal piece of dough into 8 pieces and roll each into a snake about as long as the log. Press the snakes to flatten slightly. Stick the snakes on the log all around, covering the log. Roll the log gently on the counter to make it round (but don't put so much pressure that you smoosh the kitty faces inside). Once the log is round spread 1/2 cup or so of nonpareils on a plate or small rimmed baking sheet. Roll the log to coat in nonpareils. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate or freeze again until firm. (The cookies can also be made up to this point and frozen for later use.)
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Unwrap the dough and use a sharp knife to cut cookies just a bit more than 1/4-inch thick. Space the cookies about an inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake, rotating the trays from top to bottom once, until crisp on the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool.

EMOJI CAT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, use a paddle attachment to beat butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in flour. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a flat disk.
• Working one at a time, place the dough on a silpat or piece of parchment paper cut to 12x17 inches. Cover with a large piece of plastic wrap and roll dough out to 1/4-inch thick. Place rolled dough, covered with plastic on a baking sheet. Repeat process with 2nd disk and place rolled dough on top of 1st piece. Refrigerate until dough is firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove plastic from dough and use a 4-inch cat emoji cutter to cut out shapes. Place cookies 1 1/2-2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Roll out scraps and repeat process. Chill for about 15 minutes if dough is too soft.
• Bake cookies rotating baking sheets halfway through until edges start to turn golden, about 12-14 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
• To make the icing: Place sugar, meringue powder and 1/2 cup water in a large mixing bowl. Using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk to combine until smooth and thick, adding additional water to achieve a thick but pourable consistency. Separate icing into four bowls and use coloring gels to dye icing red, yellow, black, and light blue.
• Fill a small squeeze bottle with yellow royal icing and trim the tip to make it easier to squeeze the icing out. Alternatively use a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small tip or squeeze bottle with black royal icing. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small tip or small squeeze bottle with light blue royal icing.
• To decorate cookies, start with the yellow royal icing and draw an outline around the edge of the cookie. Fill the center with yellow icing by squeezing in a zig zag and then use a toothpick to make smooth. Place heart eyes on some of the cookies. Let icing dry completely before decorating the face.
• Once the yellow icing is dry, use the black icing to make eyes, whiskers and a mouth. Let dry completely.
• Use the light blue royal icing to draw tears of laughter on some of the cat emojis.