Citrus Ornament Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add sugar, eggs, and lemon zest and process until mixture resembles wet sand.
• Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface; knead several times until dough comes together. Divide into 3 portions; flatten each into a disk. Roll each disk to an 1/8-inch thickness between sheets of parchment. Stack dough (still in parchment) on a baking sheet; refrigerate 20 minutes. (To store, wrap in plastic and freeze on sheet, up to 2 weeks. Thaw until pliable before using.)
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with racks in middle and lower thirds. Working with 1 dough sheet at a time, peel off parchment (save for baking). With lightly floured cutters, cut dough into desired shapes and arrange, 1 inch apart, on 2 parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets (reroll scraps, if desired). Sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
• Bake until cookies are set but still pale, 7 to 9 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely. Using a spoon, frost cookies with icing; decorate with sugar, if desired.

Steps:

• Candied Citrus Zest: Remove zest from lemons and oranges with a vegetable peeler in long strips. With a paring knife, remove white pith from zest strips. With a very sharp knife, cut strips into a long, fine julienne. Place julienned zest in a small bowl; cover with boiling water. Let stand 30 minutes; drain.
• Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high. When sugar is completely dissolved, add julienned zest, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand overnight. Candied zest in syrup can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks. (Makes 3/4 cup.)
• Glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and citrus juice until smooth. Whisk in zest. Glaze can be stored at room temperature, with plastic wrap pressed directly on surface, up to 3 days; whisk before using. (Makes 2 cups.)
• Cookies: Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Beat butter with sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add citrus zest; beat to combine. Add eggs and citrus juice; beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, beating until just combined.
• Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 3 disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 2 days (or freeze up to 1 month).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough about 1/8 inch thick. Use a 3-inch ornament cutter to cut out shapes; transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Reroll and cut remaining dough. Freeze 15 minutes. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Remove candied citrus zest from syrup; let drain on paper towels. Stir in a tiny amount of food coloring into glaze to achieve a very pale tint. Brush tops of cookies with glaze, then turn glaze-sides up on racks set over rimmed baking sheets to catch drips. Let stand 5 minutes before pressing zest strips into glaze. Let stand until completely set, about 1 hour. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container between sheets of parchment at room temperature up to 4 days.

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg, zest, and flour mixture. Divide dough in half; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Unwrap 1 half on a lightly floured surface. Let stand 10 minutes. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles with a 2-inch round cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets. Roll out scraps; cut out circles. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Lightly press 1 end of a clean 1 1/2-inch spool onto surface of each cookie. Refrigerate dough on sheets 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle sanding sugar into imprint on cookies; brush off excess. Bake until golden, about 14 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks.

Steps:

• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Beat the butter and confectioners' sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and orange zest. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the cranberries; mixing just enough to evenly combine.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, then roll into logs about 7 inches long. Wrap each log in wax paper or plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove wax paper, and cut the cookie dough into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until firm but not browned, about 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
• Combine the butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes.
• Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, citrus zest, citrus juice and food coloring and beat until incorporated. Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in another small bowl. Scoop tablespoons of the chilled dough and roll into balls. Toss each ball in the granulated sugar first, then in the confectioners' sugar, coating them very generously and thoroughly. Arrange the balls about 1 inch apart on 2 baking sheets (you should have 24 balls). Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Position the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Bake until the cookies spread, the tops crack and the edges are firm, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs with electric stand mixer on medium-low speed or with electric hand mixer on lowest speed until well combined. Add flour and salt; beat until soft, nonsticky dough forms. (You should be able to handle the dough without it sticking to your fingers. If dough is sticky, beat in additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes to the correct consistency.)
• On work surface, shape dough into a ball. Divide into 3 equal portions. Return one-third of dough to bowl; beat in orange peel, orange extract and drops of yellow and red food color until orange color is consistent. Remove dough from bowl; cover with plastic wrap.
• Clean bowl; add another one-third portion of dough. Beat in lemon peel, lemon extract and drops of yellow food color until yellow color is consistent. Remove dough from bowl; cover with plastic wrap.
• Leave remaining one-third of dough plain; cover with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate all dough portions 1 hour.
• Shape each portion of tinted dough into a roll about 5 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter; set aside. On lightly floured work surface, roll plain dough into a rectangle. Place roll of orange dough on plain dough. Roll plain dough in a single layer around orange dough. Cut away excess dough; reserve for yellow dough.
• Place orange sanding sugar on plate; roll dough log in sugar until completely coated. Wrap sugar-coated dough log in plastic wrap; refrigerate. Repeat process with lemon dough, remaining plain dough and yellow sanding sugar. Refrigerate dough logs at least 4 hours.
• Heat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
• Cut chilled logs into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick rounds. With back edge of knife, score "segment" lines into each round, making only indentations (do not go all the way through). Cut rounds in half; place on cookie sheets.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until set. Remove cookies from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely.

Steps:

• Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Generously flour a rolling pin and work surface. Working with 1 disc at a time, roll dough to 1/4" thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible with cookie cutters (if dough becomes too soft, chill until firm). Place cookies 1/2" apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill 15 minutes.
• Bake cookies until edges are light golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.
• Place icing in a wide shallow bowl. Add water by the teaspoon and stir to combine until slightly runny. Dip cookies face down into icing, just enough to cover the front and reach the outer edges, being careful not to completely submerge. Lightly shake cookies to level out icing. Transfer cookies to wire racks to let icing dry completely before decorating, about 3 hours.
• Mix each food coloring with a small amount of water to dilute in separate bowls; the more water you add, the lighter the colors will be. Fill 2 small bowls with clean water.
• Lightly dampen paint brush with water. Working with half of cookies and 1 color, lightly dab a few patches of watercolor "paint" over icing. Dampen brush in clean water. Brush along edges of darker paint to create a watercolor effect with the color fading out gently. For added texture, lightly tap brush over cookie to splatter droplets of color. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to dry as you work. Repeat painting technique with second color on remaining cookies. Let dry.
• Mix lemon extract and luster dust in a small bowl to create gold paint. Using a clean paintbrush, splatter cookies in gold and paint tops of ornaments. Let paint dry completely before storing cookies.
• Cookies can be made 10 days ahead; store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Whisk together flour, zest, cardamom, and salt.
• Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in yolk and cream. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches just until a dough forms. Quarter dough and form each piece into a 6-inch disk, then chill, wrapped separately in plastic wrap, until firm, 2 to 3 hours.
• Cut and bake cookies:
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
• Roll out 1 piece of dough between sheets of parchment paper into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Slide dough in parchment onto a tray and chill until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Cut out as many cookies as possible with cookie cutter (chill dough again if necessary), reserving and chilling scraps. Transfer cookies to a parchment-lined large baking sheet, arranging them 1 inch apart.
• Bake until edges are golden-brown, 9 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then slide cookies, still on parchment, onto a rack to cool completely.
• Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll only once) on cooled freshly lined baking sheets.
• If icing cookies and coloring icing, transfer small batches to small bowls, 1 for each color, and tint with food coloring. Spoon each color of icing into separate sealable bags, pressing out excess air, and snip an 1/8-inch opening in 1 bottom corner of each bag. Pipe icing onto a plate to test consistency. If too thick, thin a small batch with a few drops of orange juice.
• Decoratively pipe icing onto cookies, then sprinkle with decorative sugar (if using) and let dry completely, about 1 hour (depending on humidity).

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. , Divide dough into fourths. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion to 1/8-in. thickness. (Refrigerate other portions until ready to use.) Using a variety of sizes of floured snowflake cookie cutters, cut out snowflakes. , Carefully place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using small decorating cutters, cut out desired shapes to create designs in some of the snowflakes. Use a toothpick to help remove the cutouts. With a plastic straw, poke a hole in the top of each small cookie. , Bake medium and large snowflakes 6-1/2-7 minutes and small snowflakes 6 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough., For royal icing, in a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and meringue powder. Add warm water; beat on low speed 1 minute. Beat on high 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Tint half blue. Leave remaining icing white; cover and set aside., With blue icing and a round tip, outline half of the cookies; fill in centers with blue icing and let dry completely. With white icing and a round tip, outline each blue-colored cookie and create snowflake designs. Let dry completely., On the remaining cookies, repeat process using white icing on white frosted cookies. Thread a ribbon through the hole in each small snowflake and through the cutout in each medium and large snowflake.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper; set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and the granulated and brown sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Mix in candied orange peel, the zests, and the oils. Reduce mixer speed to low, and slowly add dry ingredients. Beat until fully combined and dough begins to form around paddle.
• Use a 2-inch ice cream scoop to drop cookies onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Flatten cookies with palm of hand. Sprinkle with sanding sugar. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush tops with water. Sprinkle with more sanding sugar. Transfer to oven, and bake until just beginning to brown at edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.