Sugar cookies are always fun to make for Christmas. Every year my sister and her friend Shelley have a cookie party and make these sugar cookies. I absolutely love them. This is my go to recipe for sugar cookies. The recipe is originally from Shelley’s Grandmother, Grandma Johnson. I think it is the only roll out cookie I don’t really mind making.
This year I decided to try something new. I found a post about using an egg yolk glaze. The glaze is used in place of frosting and is painted on the cookies prior to baking. There isn’t any sugar in the glaze and it is flavorless. It is shiny, so if you prefer your sugar cookies plain, but still want them to be pretty, an egg yolk glaze is an easy way to achieve this.
To get started you need to make your sugar cookie dough and chill it. While it’s chilling prepare the egg yolk glaze. Then roll it and cut out shapes. Transfer the shapes to a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. I did little mini Christmas shapes, angels, trees, stockings and candy canes. I used a food safe paint brush to paint the glaze onto the cookies. They turned out to be pretty cute, and it wasn’t as tedious as frosting them with royal icing or butter cream. The glaze turned hard and shiny in the oven and the cookies are easily transportable, with no worries about ruining the decorations on them.
Grandma Johnson’s Sugar Cookies
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 5 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
Cream together the shortening, butter and sugar. Add vanilla, then add in the eggs one at a time until all are incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture until combined. Chill for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 400.
Once chilled, roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Transfer shapes to a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. If using the egg yolk glaze, paint the cookies and then bake for 6 – 8 minutes or until lightly browned along the edges.
Egg Yolk Glaze
- Egg yolks
- Food Coloring, paste or gel
Place the yolk in a glass dish or custard cup. Add food coloring a little at a time until you get the color you want. The more food coloring you add, the more vibrant the color. Note that the yolk may add yellow to whatever color you put in it, so if you want blue you may need to add extra food coloring, to overpower the color in the yolk. It really depends on your eggs. I used farm fresh eggs from a coworker and the yolks were darker than store-bought eggs I’ve purchased in the past.
Once you achieve the color you were after, paint the raw cookies and then bake following the directions in the cookie recipe.
thiscrazygirlcanbake 