If you are looking for the perfect sugar iced cookies recipe that is easy to make, rolls out beautifully and doesn’t spread whilst cooking – this is it! This basic recipe contains only four ingredients.
These vanilla cookies are similar to my traditional Shortbread recipe, just a bit lighter and crispier. The dough is designed for rolling out and cutting and is much easier to work with than the shortbread dough. You can use these cookies in place of any plain biscuits in my traybake recipes also.
This iced cookies recipe is very simple and quick to prepare but you do need to allow time for the dough to chill for the best results. If you don’t chill the dough enough it will be too soft to roll out smoothly and the cookies will spread when baking. Chill for at least 30 minutes or ideally overnight. If your kitchen is cold you can leave the dough at room temperature for an hour or so before rolling out if you need to.
These cookies should be rolled out quite thinly, no more than 5mm thick, especially if you are going to sandwich them together. Any thicker than this results in a cookie that is hard to bite into – they are quite firm as they are designed to be iced which can soften the cookie a little, depending on the type of icing used.
The easiest way to top these cookies is with a sprinkling of caster sugar or a simple glace icing spread over them – sprinkles on top are entirely optional!
To make a glace icing, simply place some icing sugar (around 200 g) in a mixing bowl and gradually add some water to make a thick and spreadable consistency. Spread this over your cookies with a palette knife.
You can also sandwich the cookies together with a little jam of your choice.
Iced Vanilla Cookies
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- cookie cutter(s) of your choice
- flat baking trays
Ingredients
- 250 g butter
- 250 g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional, or see notes for other flavour ideas
- 1 large egg
- 400 g plain flour plus extra for dusting
Instructions
- Make sure your butter is very soft so it can be creamed easily. If it is too hard you can soften it in the microwave – cut into pieces, place in a microwaveable bowl and heat on full power for 30 seconds. Stir well until the butter is smooth and soft, returning to the microwave for a few seconds if it is still too hard.
- Once your butter is soft and can be stirred easily, place it in a mixing bowl along with the caster sugar and vanilla extract. Beat together until the mixture is light and creamy – this can be done by hand with a wooden spoon if your butter is soft enough or you can use a mixer on full speed for a couple of minutes.
- Add the egg and flour and mix gently until the mixture comes together into a soft dough. Place the dough in a plastic bag and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or ideally overnight to chill.
- When you are ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 150C. Cut a piece of baking or parchment paper to fit the baking trays neatly and remove the dough from the fridge. Dust your work surface with a little extra flour and roll out the cookie dough to a thickness of roughly 5mm. Use your cutter to cut out shapes and place on the lined baking tray leaving a small gap between them.
- Once you have cut out your shapes, roll your leftover dough pieces together into a ball again and repeat the rolling and cutting as many times as you need to until all the dough is used. Try not to add too much flour as this will make the dough crumbly and hard to work with and your finished cookies will be hard and dry.
- Place your tray of cookies in the oven and bake for approx 30 minutes until pale light golden and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.