Spiced Vanilla Cookies Recipes

SUGAR AND SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix the flour, the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together in a bowl.
• Cream the butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth; beat the egg and vanilla extract into the butter mixture. Add the flour mixture in small amount to the butter mixture, beating each addition until blended. Form the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
• Roll the dough out on a floured work surface with a rolling pin to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch cookie cutters. Arrange the cut cookies onto the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges begin to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Soak the currants in the brandy for 10 minutes. Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and dark chocolate. Mix well with a whisk.
• Put the butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon and orange zest in a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment and beat to combine but not aerate much, about 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly add the egg and mix for about 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, followed by the currants and brandy. Mix until everything comes together.
• Gently knead the dough in the bowl with your hands until it comes together and is uniform. Divide the dough into 1 3/4-oz / 50g chunks and shape each chunk into a perfectly round ball. Place the balls on 1 or 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 3/4 inch / 2 cm apart, and let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until the top firms up but the center is still slightly soft. Remove from the oven. Once the cookies are out of the oven, allow to cool for only 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack. While the cookies are still warm, whisk together the glaze ingredients until a thin and smooth icing forms. Pour 1 tablespoon of the glaze over each biscuit, leaving it to drip and coat the biscuit with a very thin, almost transparent film. Finish each with 3 pieces of candied peel placed at the center. Leave to set and serve, or store in an airtight container for a day or two.

GLAZED ORANGE SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and salt.
• Beat the shortening and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until combined. Mix in the chopped almonds and orange zest. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined.
• Transfer the cookie dough to a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle about 13 inches long. Cut the dough into 3 1/2-inch rectangles using a fluted pastry wheel or sharp paring knife. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheets, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Combine the sifted confectioners' sugar, the orange marmalade, and the orange juice and stir well. Spread the glaze on the cookies and garnish with sliced almonds, if desired.

CRISPY VANILLA BEAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk flour and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
• Whip butter and sugar until well combined and creamy.
• Whip in the vanilla bean paste.
• Whip in the dry ingredients and keep whipping until the dough starts to clump together.
• Bring the dough together by hand, shape into a disk, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and cut out the cookies. (After the first round of cutting out the cookies, you can gather the scraps and roll them out again).
• Bake the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat until they are lightly browned (12 - 15 minutes).
• Let the cookies cool.
• Whisk powdered sugar, vanilla bean paste and heavy cream together. Start with 1 tablespoon of cream, then add more until you have a spreadable but not runny consistency.
• Spoon the icing onto the cookies and let dry.

SPICED HOLIDAY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in medium bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed.
• Roll out dough on generously floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with your favorite holiday cookie cutters. Place on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges start to brown lightly. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• For the Icing, mix confectioners' sugar and milk with wire whisk until well blended and smooth. (Stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.) (Makes 1 cup.) See tips below to make holiday icing colors.
• To ice cookies, hold cookie by its edge and dip top of cookie into icing. (Or spoon the icing onto cookie using a teaspoon.) Place iced cookies on wire rack set over foil-covered baking sheet to dry. (The foil-covered baking sheet will catch drips.) To add decorative details to cookies, spoon tinted icing into resealable plastic bag. Snip off a tiny piece of the corner. Squeeze icing through hole in plastic bag to decorate cookies. If desired, Colored Sugar may be sprinkled onto freshly iced cookies.
• Each color combination below is enough to tint 1 cup icing. •RED: Mix 1 teaspoon Red, 30 drops NEON Pink, 10 drops Yellow and 2 drops Blue into 1 batch of frosting.•BROWN: Mix 6 drops Black, 25 drops Yellow and 18 drops NEON Purple into 1 batch of frosting.•BLUE: Mix 4 drops NEON Pink and 8 drops NEON Blue into 1 batch of frosting.•YELLOW: Mix 16 drops Yellow and 1 drop Red into 1 batch of frosting. •BLUE: Mix 2 drops NEON Blue and 1 drop NEON Pink into 1 batch of frosting.•GREEN: Mix 35 drops Green and 1 drop Black into 1 batch of frosting.