by Deanna McCaulley
With Thanksgiving right around the corner and through the woods to Grandmother’s house, these little pretties are the perfect treat for your work, friends & family, and school parties. Placed in a cute clear bag with a bow, it’s like, well, a personal turkey day Valentine. The pumpkin spice frosting makes them not only steal your heart but your taste buds too.
Are you new to hosting the holidays this year? If so, don’t worry. We got your back. Just go to theoldhen.com & sign up for email updates to receive your free Epic Thanksgiving Dinner eBook. It has every recipe you need to make a memorable spread for your loved ones. Need desserts recipes too? You’ll find those there too, just click on “desserts” or search for “pie”. You got this!
Sugar Cookies
Cream together:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
Add & beat together well:
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups flour
Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350F. Choose cookie cutters. Roll dough out to inch thick using Flour Power to keep dough from sticking to counter. Swoosh cookie cutter in flour for easy release from dough each time you cut out a cookie. Place on a parchment-lined half sheet pan. Bake about 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Allow cookies to cool completely.
Royal Icing
- 5 -6 tablespoons water
- 4 cups sifted powdered’ sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
- Wilton brand orange, brown, and ivory food colorings
Whip water, powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla extract, and pumpkin spice together on low speed until combined. Turn speed up and whip until stiff peaks form like they do with whipped cream. Cover with a damp towel or place in an airtight container when not in use to prevent frosting from hardening too soon.
Place part of icing in a smaller bowl and stir in a bit of orange food coloring. Add a smaller amount of brown just to give it a more pumpkin-y color.
Add ivory to another part of icing to make the “pie crust”.
Decorating tips: Number 5 (small round) tip should work well for outline and then flooding of “pie”. 104 will work well for “pie crust”. Use about a size 12 circle tip for the white “whipped cream” topper.
Decorate the “pie” area with orange colored frosting by outlining the “pie filling” section of the cookie. When finished with all, just add a little water to the orange-colored frosting and fill in the middle.
After the orange has had a few hours to dry, place “pie crust” on the cookie in ivory in a wavey fashion as pictured.
When “pie filling” is completely dry, place a dollop of white icing for the “whipped cream”. Allow to dry at least overnight as this part is pretty thick.
Make no mistake about it, the smaller these are, the more your friends will crush on them. And, soon, every year whenever someone thinks of turkey, they will think of you. Gobble it all up.
