This holiday season I made Citrus Sugar Cookies and you may have been wondering why I haven’t done a post on any holiday cookies yet this year. Over the last two years, I have gotten together with some food bloggers and done a “12 Days of Holiday Cookies” Part 1 and Part 2 but this year I decided to do something a bit different and charitable. I am working with the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap started by the lovely and talented ladies –– Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen –– just 4 short years ago. It’s a national champaign where food bloggers enter to participate, bake cookies, swap, and post about them. The BEST part besides all of the delicious cookies showing up on my doorstep and meeting more fellow food bloggers? All proceeds go to the Cookies for Kids Cancer benefit –– a non-profit committed to fund new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the U.S. than any other disease –– so it’s a win, win in my book! When choosing what cookie to make, I had to go with something that was crowd-pleasing and one that would (hopefully) travel well across the miles. With the citrus in season and cookies to bake, I went with a traditional sugar cookie laced with a hint of citrus thus, iced Citrus Sugar Cookies. Along with each dozen of cookies that I mailed out, I included the current issue of Edible Austin for my recipients to peruse while snacking on their cookies.
To make these cookies simply roll out the chilled dough between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper to about 1/2″ then use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes to bake.
Make the royal icing and whip until large peeks form like this.
Add any food colorings if desired.
You can use a pastry bag, plastic bag, or knife to spread icing out onto each cookie.
Embellish with sprinkles and candies of your choice.
From Texas with Love ~ be sure to leave a plate out Citrus Sugar Cookies for Santa.
It’s a great feeling to get something homemade in the mail and these cookies didn’t disappoint:
The first batch that I received was Marzipan filled Rugelach from Trang over at Wild Wild Whisk — Delish!
The next day in the mail came these delicious Chocolate Reese’s Pieces Pudding Cookies from Jennie over at The Messy Baker ~ Yum!
Then finally, after a short adventure of this box showing up at the wrong address, these tasty Dark Chocolate Chip & Peppermint Bark Snickerdoodle Bars came my way from Julie Goes Healthy ~ worth the wait!
Thank you ladies ~ xo
Whatever cookies you bake, I hope you keep your holiday sweet!
Citrus Sugar Cookies
Coursecookies, dessert
Servings
Prep Time
3dozen (depending on size)
10minutes
Cook Time
7-10minutes
Servings
Prep Time
3dozen (depending on size)
10minutes
Cook Time
7-10minutes
Ingredients
for the cookies
3 1/2 cups
all-purpose flour
2teaspoons
baking powder
1/2teaspoon
kosher salt
16Tablespoons
(2 sticks) unsalted buttersoftened
1large
egg
1cup
granulated sugar
2teaspoons
pure vanilla extract
2Tablespoons
grapefruit zest
3Tablespoons
fresh grapefruit juice
for the icing
3 Tablespoons
meringue powder
4cups
confectioners sugar
6Tablespoons
fresh grapefruit juice
sprinklesfor decorating (optional)
food coloringfor decorating (optional)
Instructions
for the cookies
In a large bowl combine: flour, baking powder, salt –– mix together well and set aside.
In another large bowl add butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, grapefruit zest and orange until well combined.
Next slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and stir until well combined. Once dough is formed divide dough into 3 even ball shapes and place covered into the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. Working with one ball of dough at a time (leaving the others in the refrigerator to stay cool) place between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper to roll out into about 1/2" piece. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using the cookie cutter shapes of your choice cut dough and place cut out cookie shapes onto a parchment lined or silpat lined cookie sheet. Continue the process until all of the shapes can be cut out of that roll, then gather the scraps of dough, re-work into a ball and re-roll the scrap dough into a 1/2" thick piece. Cut out shapes and place onto prepared cookie sheets.
Continue the process -- getting more dough out of the refrigerator if necessary -- until two cookie sheets are filled but cookies are spaced apart slightly. Place cookie sheets into the oven for 7-10 minutes, until slightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes on the pan before moving them onto a cooling rack. Continue the cookie process until all of the dough is used. Place on the cooling rack until completely cool before adding any decorations or icing.
for the icing
Place the Confectioners sugar and meringue into a large mixing bowl and stir together well. Next add in 6 Tablespoons of grapefruit juice and continue to mix on high speed until icing is formed –– light and fluffy with large peaks. Divide icing up into sections if you want to add any food coloring. Using a spoon, knife, or pastry bag coat each cookie with the icing of your choice and decorate with any sprinkles or embellishments of your choice. Allow to dry for 20-30 minutes and enjoy.