Coco and I spent Sunday morning baking Christmas Cookies (because can you EVER have enough Christmas Cookies!!???) We wanted to make new cookies, and the prerequisite was that they were colorful and had frosting. These were Coco’s rules, but I was happy to agree.
We decided that these might be a fun alternative to sugar cookies and icing, and they were definitely a really sweet and tasty treat!
The cookies turned out like a highbred of soft and chewy and crispy and buttery- they were kind of all those things in one! I think that part came from the fact that I used better flavored Crisco (LOL!!! I know that’s funny.) My mom always made pastry with crisco, and so I gota bunch when I was experimenting with pie crusts recently and wound up using it in some other baked goods too. Ummmm, I have to admit, it is really good!! I did not say healthy by the way- but the baked goods have been particularly tasty lately!
So anyways, when these adorable white and green and red and pink cookies were all hand frosted and sprinkled- they were so dang cute. I loved that Coco could help me decorate and have such a good time organizing all of the sprinkles! Pia just wanted to swoop in and sample and give feedback on whether the cookies had enough frosting.
Ultimately we had a few too many and then put them in the freezer all wrapped up so that they would be ready to roll the week of Christmas when we have a lot going on and love to be able to put cookies out.
I hope you try this one at your house- it’s especially easy and fun for those of you with younger kids or grandkids!
- Vanilla Cookies:
- 1 cup butter flavored Crisco or soft vegan butter
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthum gum
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ¼ cups gluten-free baking flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill Brand in a dark red bag)
- 3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
- Red food coloring
- Vanilla Frosting:
- 1 cup butter flavored Crisco or soft vegan butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons non-dairy milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pinch of kosher salt
- Red and green food coloring
- Sprinkles
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two sheet pans with silpats or parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, cream together the butter and sugar with the vanilla. Sprinkle in the salt, xanthum gum, baking soda and powder and then, with the mixer running, keep adding the flour a little at a time. When all the flour has been added, add the milk and beat until you have a smooth dough.
- Divide the dough in half and transfer half to a small bowl. Leave the other half in the standing mixer and add a few drops of red food coloring and beat until you get the desired reddish pink shade.
- Scoop (using a small scoop) the dough and give the round dough balls space on the sheet pans. I got 40 cookies total, so this makes a lot of small cookies! Bake them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Then let them have time to cool completely. You should have about 20 white cookies, and 20 red cookies.
- For the frosting, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the shortening or soft vegan butter and add the powdered sugar a cup at a time while whisking on low speed. Add the vanilla, salt and enough of the non-dairy milk to get it to a good consistency.
- Frost the cooled cookies with an offset spatula and immediately add the sprinkles while the frosting is still wet before it sets up. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature, or if it is more than a day or two I would put them in the freezer.
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yummy, looks very delicious.