Santa Skillet Cookie Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use 1 tablespoon of the butter to grease a 10-inch cast-iron skillet.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In another bowl, beat together the sugar and remaining butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, beating slowly after each addition to incorporate.
• Scoop the dough into the prepared skillet and press it in evenly with your fingers. Decorate with the sprinkles as desired. Bake until the edges of the cookie are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F. Beat butter, granulated sugar and lemon peel in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in egg and milk. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press bottom of drinking glass on each until about 1/4 inch and 3 inches in diameter. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Spread frosting on cookie (frost and decorate each cookie before starting another). Sprinkle red sugar over top third of cookie for hat. Press on miniature marshmallow for tassel. Press 2 currants for eyes and 1 cinnamon candy for nose into center third of cookie. Sprinkle coconut over bottom third for beard.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and generously butter an 8-inch cast iron skillet.
• Prepare the sugar cookie dough according to the package directions. Evenly press half of the cookie dough into the prepared skillet all the way to the edge. (Reserve the remaining dough for another use.) Bake until the top just turns golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cookie comes out clean, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool in the skillet for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the cookie with a large offset spatula and place it on a cutting board.
• Cut the cookie: Heat up a small, sharp knife by submerging it in boiling water for 3 minutes. Wipe the knife dry and gently cut the cookie into 8 wedges making sure the pieces stay together in a circle. Take it slow when cutting or the cookie could crumble. Let the cookie cool completely on the cutting board.
• Meanwhile, make the royal icing: Whisk together the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons water and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes (you may need to add up to 1 teaspoon more water).
• Transfer a quarter of the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a small no. 13 star pastry tip.
• Color the remaining icing red using the food coloring. Transfer 1/4 cup of the red icing to a small bowl and add water, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, to thin it out (when you drizzle the icing with a spoon, the lines should disappear within 5 seconds). This will be your filling icing. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a small no. 3 round pastry tip. Transfer the remaining thick red icing to a pastry bag fitted with a small no. 4 round pastry tip.
• Decorate the cookie: Using the thick red icing with the no. 4 tip, pipe a 2-inch circle in the center of the cookie.
• With the same icing, pipe eight 1-inch circles overlapping the 8 cut lines, positioning them about 1 inch in from the edge of the cookie. Each cookie wedge should have 2 half circles on it.
• Fill in all the circles with the filling icing with the no. 3 tip. Sprinkle each circle with red sanding sugar to coat. If excess sanding sugar gets on the cookie, fan it away or brush it off with a small pastry brush. (Your Santas are taking shape: the wedges in the large center circle are hats; the smaller circles are mittens.)
• Place a dragee on the tip of each cookie wedge to form a small white circle in the middle of the red center circle. (These are the pom-poms on the Santa hats.)
• Pipe a white icing border around the center red circle. (This will be the bottom of the hats.)
• Working on one cookie wedge at a time and starting at the white border, pipe a white ?V? that fits snuggly between the 2 red half circles. Repeat with the remaining cookie wedges. You should have a white 8-point star surrounding the middle red circle. (You've just made 8 Santa beards.)
• Pipe a small dot of thick red icing with the no. 4 tip in the middle of each "V." (Now each Santa has a nose.)
• Finish by piping a white border around the edge of the cookie. (This is the bottom of each Santa's coat.)
• Let the icing dry before serving, about 30 minutes.