Fall Cut-out Cookies

I can't believe how negligent I've been! I didn't realize I hadn't yet posted up about my fall cookies - and now winter is just right around the corner. In mid-September, I got very excited about slightly cooler temperatures and the upcoming promise of colorful leaves, pumpkin picking, and all-things-Halloween. I made almost 100 cut-out cookies to celebrate the season:

The recipe was pretty simple, but absolutely delicious: 

15 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp

1 cup & 2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

a pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting

Cream together the butter & sugar until light and creamy. Add the beaten egg, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.

Slowly add the flour and mix. Bring together into a dough, then flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Aim for a thickness of about 1/8 inch.

Using a cookie cutter, cut out the shapes you desire. The size of the cutter will determine how many cookies you can get from one batch. Gather scraps, reform into a ball, roll out again, and keep cutting!

Once all shapes have been established, refrigerate them for another 15 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the cookies on the middle shelf for about 12 minutes or until firm. Let cool on the sheets for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cool. (Let them cool ALL the way before you even think of frosting them!) These cookies will keep for 3 days in an airtight box, and for 24 hours once frosted.

Cookies cooling.

Now, for the frosting - a simple royal icing works just fine. The recipe for that:

2 egg whites

4 - 4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sift

Beat the egg whites until foamy using a whisk. Gradually add the sugar and whisk until desired stiffness is reached.

(You can also use buttercream frosting, but it will be softer and won't set well for stacking)

Using coloring gels and an assortment of candies & sprinkles, decorate as desired!

Candy corn, Indian corn, & mellow cream pumpkins make for excellent additions!

   

What I thought was a pumpkin cookie cutter was actually an apple cookie cutter. To my dismay, I had to use massive amounts of red gel to get the apples "apple red" and then they tasted absolutely disgusting. Fortunately, the pumpkins turned out rather well!

 

The Mummy family. Their eyes are made out of red hots.

Enjoy!