Dear Heart-Shaped World,
Today's project is to make sugar cookies with your pals- you might object, suggest that summer is not the time for sugar cookies, counter that we wait until the holidays of winter to decorate cookies. Well, ok, wait if you must, but I met a man about a week ago who was practicing already for the dessert he plans to make at Christmas time: Croquembouche. It is a far more ambitious dessert than sugar cookies; Croquembouche is architectural, sophisticated, baroque, and glorious.
Actually, sugar cookies are pretty glorious too. Let's make some while we consider our holiday pastry choices....
Sugar Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Book)
2 cups butter
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
5 cups flour
Cream the butter with the sugar. Add vanilla and salt. Add eggs. Add flour. Refrigerate the dough for a few hours, or overnight. Roll it 1/4 inch thick and cut our shapes. Bake your cookies at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Decorate them with the following glaze icing and colored sugar and sprinkles.
Icing Glaze (adapted from King Arthur Flour website)
2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
2- 3 tablespoons milk.
Sift the sugar into a bowl, add corn syrup, vanilla, & salt: Add milk until you get the consistency you desire.
