{"id":27853,"date":"2021-12-15T09:09:32","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T17:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000023926"},"modified":"2021-12-15T12:47:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T20:47:27","slug":"video-how-to-decorate-christmas-cookies-with-the-long-beach-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/video-how-to-decorate-christmas-cookies-with-the-long-beach-post","title":{"rendered":"Video: How to decorate Christmas cookies with the Long Beach Post"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to make and use royal icing on Christmas cookies.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5eT3l6ERy3E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Making Christmas cookies is way more fun with friends\u2014especially the kind who don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>I assembled a collection of our least-experienced bakers\u2014columnist Tim Grobaty, City Hall reporter Jason Ruiz, and a semi-sober snowman who also doubles as our publisher, David Sommers\u2014and we recently spent a festive hour in the Long Beach Post \u201ctest kitchen\u201d decorating sugar cookies with royal icing.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to follow along at home, here are the recipes we used for the cookies and the icing, along with some decorating tips (such as, do not \u201cbam!\u201d your sprinkles Emeril Lagasse-style or you\u2019ll wind up with a very gaudy cookie).<\/p>\n<p>I always at least double both recipes; this is a very messy, time-consuming process\u2014if you\u2019re going to do it, go big.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Sugar cookies<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Cream together two-thirds cup softened unsalted butter and three-fourths cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in a teaspoon of baking powder, a quarter-teaspoon salt, one tablespoon of whole milk, one egg and a teaspoon of vanilla. Blend in two cups of flour.<\/p>\n<p>Separate the dough into two balls, wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours or more.<\/p>\n<p>When ready, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.<\/p>\n<p>Flour a cutting board or countertop surface and roll the balls out into an oval about a quarter-inch thick, one at a time. Tips on rolling: If you left the dough in the refrigerator for more than two hours, you may need to let it sit out for 15 minutes before attempting to roll it. Make sure the surface stays floured, and use a piece of wax or parchment paper between the top of the dough and your rolling pin to keep it from sticking.<\/p>\n<p>Use a cookie cutter to make shapes (we used a Santa, star, angel and Christmas tree), placing the shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Roll the scraps and repeat until all the dough is used.<\/p>\n<p>Bake for 7-10 minutes or until done.<\/p>\n<p>Let them cool completely.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Royal icing<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Stir together four cups of powdered sugar, a quarter-teaspoon salt, and three tablespoons meringue powder (this is a little tough to find, but it\u2019s what gives the icing its stability; visit a craft store, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s?k=meringue+powder&amp;crid=1LREIZ0JG2H89&amp;sprefix=mering%2Caps%2C234&amp;ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_6\">order it online<\/a>). Add about nine tablespoons of water, and (this is optional) a half teaspoon of any extract (vanilla, peppermint, almond). Whisk quickly and firmly for about two minutes. Use a whisk to check the consistency: When you lift the whisk, the drizzle should keep its shape in the bowl for 5-10 seconds. The more you whisk, the thicker it will get. You can also add a bit more powdered sugar or water if it\u2019s too thin or thick.<\/p>\n<p>Put portions of the icing into bowls and add food coloring, then scrape each color into its own piping bag.<\/p>\n<p>If you leave royal icing in a bowl, cover the bowl with a damp paper towel so it doesn\u2019t dry out.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Decorating tips<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Flood the edges of the cookie using a small-medium circular tip. If you want to use a different color for the inside, let the outer ring dry for about 15 minutes first. The beauty of royal icing is that it hardens and dries very quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Use sprinkles immediately so they stick.<\/p>\n<p>Use the smallest circular tip you have to detail work like buttons and hair. Use a wider opening for flooding large areas.<\/p>\n<p>And, if you\u2019re a perfectionist like me: remember they\u2019re <i>just<\/i> Christmas cookies. It\u2019s the flaws, and a few inexperienced associates, that make it worth doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making Christmas cookies is way more fun with friends\u2014especially the kind who don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":71843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[31821,211],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[3296],"class_list":["post-27853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-baking","tag-christmas","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27853"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=27853"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=27853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}