These spring sugar cookies feature flower shaped vanilla sugar cookies decorated with vibrantly colored royal icing. Perfect for Mother’s Day or other springtime celebrations!
Sugar cookies taste delicious on their own but its so fun to decorate them. Best of all, there is no rule on decorating. You can be as simple or elaborate as you want.
There are numerous websites and social media accounts that showcase wonderfully, beautiful decorated sugar cookies. If you need any help or inspiration for sugar cookies decor, I highly recommend checking these out my friend, Compact Cookies.
Ingredients
These perfectly shaped sugar cookies are made with a classic, roll-out dough requires patience! A quick chill (at least one hour, ideally overnight) transforms the dough into a sturdy cookie. The dough is easy to roll out, cut, and bakes into a flawless crisp edge.
To make the dough, you will need all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, egg, and milk. For additional flavor, I highly recommend adding high quality pure vanilla extract or a touch of almond extract.
For best results, use a kitchen scale to measure the dry ingredients by weight. Otherwise, use the spoon and level method when measuring flour by volume.
The royal icing is a mixture of meringue powder, water, confectioners’ sugar (aka powdered sugar), vanilla, and corn syrup. Meringue powder is made up of egg white powder, cornstarch, and stabilizers. It’s safer and easier to use than raw egg whites! It delivers consistent results and a stable frosting.
NOTE: Meringue powder can also be used to make meringue topping and other frostings!
Cookie Dough Options
- Pressed for time? Try this no chill sugar cookie dough recipe. No resting or chilling. Best of all, these cookies only take 6 minutes to bake!
- These melt in your mouth cookies are flavored with lemon, lime, and orange.
- Classic gingerbread cookies are always great for decorating!
Outline and Flood Work
It’s time to decorate! I started by piping a general outline using a #2 piping tip. (#0 and #1 also work well) By the time you have outlined all your cookies, the first outlined cookie should be dry and ready for flooding.
Once the outlines are dry, thin some royal icing using warm water. You will use this thinner royal icing to “flood” in the sugar cookies.
Add a teaspoon at a time to your royal icing until it is loose and pourable. I like using a squeeze bottle, but you can also use a piping bag.
Flood the inside of the outlines with the thinned out royal icing. The icing should naturally flow to the edges of the outlines. If it needs a little help, you can use a clean toothpick to drag it out.
Once the flood work has dried, about 30minutes to 1 hour, I like to pipe another border on top to enhance the shape and colors.
More Decorated Cookies
Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp milk
Royal Icing:
- ¼ cup meringue powder
- ½ cup warm water
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
Instructions
Cookies:
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
- Add half of flour mixture to mixing bowl. Mix on slow speed for about 10 seconds. Add milk and mix for another few seconds. Then, add remaining half of flour mixture. Mix on low speed until just combined. Scape down sides of bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- Divide dough into two equal parts. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet trays with parchment paper or baking silicone mat. Set aside.
- Work with one piece of dough at a time. Let cookie dough rest at room temperature for 15-20 minutes to gently warm up and softened. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough to about ¼-inch thick. Cut out desired shapes using a floured cookie cutter. Transfer cut outs to prepared sheet trays.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until the edges are golden. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool to room temperature.
Royal Icing:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together meringue powder and water on low speed until frothy and soft peaks. Make sure the powder has been dissolved. If necessary, scrape bowl down a couples of times to ensure the powder gets mixed in.
- 2. Add sifted powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add vanilla and corn syrup. Mix at medium speed until fluffy and dense, about sift peaks. *At this point, the royal icing is perfect for outlining.
- Color using gel paste. *I prefer AmeriColor food gel pastes. I used electric pink and electric yellow to get my vibrant colors.
- Cover royal icing with plastic wrap, letting the plastic wrap touch the surface. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use. Stir vigorously just before using.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
These cookies are so PRETTY!
Thank you, Angie!