Celebrate the season with this easy recipe for absolutely delicious Spring Flower Sugar Cookies, decorated with Royal Icing.
Springtime in the Pacific Northwest means flowers blooming everywhere… what a wonderful re-awakening, after a cold, barren Winter! What better way to celebrate the beginning of this new season than these delicious, frosted Spring Flower Sugar Cookies!
I’ve never been a great cookie decorator, but am trying to learn more tips and tricks necessary to make pretty cut-out sugar cookies. I’ve made Fall and Christmas decorated cookies since that time, using this same recipe. They’re always great!
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These Cookies Are Great To Take To A Party
I made these cookies last year for an Easter potluck we were invited to. They were a big hit! As you can see in the photo below, I also made Lemon Curd Filled Won Ton Cups, Chocolate Dream Cups with Raspberry Mousse, and Chocolate Chip Cheesecake-Swirl Brownie Bites!
I found the recipe for the cookies and icing on a website called Glorious Treats. The website has lots of tips (and good info. for people who want to learn “how” to decorate cookies), including the recipe for these cookies and icing.
These spring flower sugar cookies are absolutely delicious, especially when cut into pretty designs and decorated with Royal Icing! The cookies are very easy to prepare… you can use ANY cookie cutter you have available to create your very own masterpieces!
For me the hardest part was learning “how” to outline the cookies, then flooding them with different colors. It takes a steady hand and practice (and believe me… I am a work in progress!) All in all, I was pleased with how these decorated cookies (one of my first attempts) turned out.
How To Make Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
First, stir the flour and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside. EASY.
Beat the butter and sugar together for a few minutes (using an electric mixer), until mixture is thoroughly creamed and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat again. Once blended, the flour mixture is added to the batter. The dough is then mixed until all ingredients have been incorporated.
Once the dough is done, it is kneaded, then refrigerated for 2 hours to get really cold!
Rolling And Cutting Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
The dough for the Spring flower sugar cookies is placed onto a lightly floured work surface and rolled out to about a 1/3 inch thickness.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes you desire. I used the flower cookie cutter shown below, but you can use any flower shaped cookie cutter you wish.
Place the cut out cookie dough onto lined baking sheets, then refrigerate for a few minutes. This quick refrigeration will help the Spring flower sugar cookies hold their shape while cooking. Once chilled, bake the cookies for for 8-10 minutes, but do not let them get browned.
Make The Royal Icing For The Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
While the cookies were baking, I prepared the royal icing. To make this icing, beat meringue powder, powdered sugar and warm water until stiff peaks formed. This is the meringue powder I used for the icing. I bought it at a local craft store (Michael’s). A lot of grocery stores carry this product, as well.
Once the icing was the right consistency, I divided it out into bowls, then added food coloring (I used gel food coloring), until it was the color I wanted.
Decorating Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
I used a thicker consistency icing to pipe (using a pastry bag) the edges on the flowers like shown in the photo below. The icing has to be thick enough not to run, because it will be the “barrier” that holds the thinner icing that will fill the flowers later.
Let the icing dry (about 30 minutes), then thin the icing out a bit more. A teensy drop of red coloring was added to turn the icing slightly darker yellow (toward orange color). This thinner consistency icing was “flooded” in between all the thicker outlines (I used a toothpick to help fill in all the nooks and crannies) like shown in the photo below:
The cookies were set aside to let the icing dry. Once dry, I added the green center portion right in the middle of the flower cookie, then let that dry, also.
Time To Eat Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
Once all the cookies were dry (the icing will get hard after a couple hours-that is a good thing!), the cookies are ready to eat. Trust me- these cookies are GOOD!
Wouldn’t a basket of sweet Spring Flower Sugar Cookies brighten someone’s day?
I hope you will try making these delicious Spring flower sugar cookies. Enjoy using your own cookie cutters and imagination to create wonderful cookies for any celebration! Have a GREAT day!
Looking For More COOKIE Recipes?
You can find all of my recipes in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. A few favorite cookie recipes include:
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Recipe Source for Cookies: http://www.glorioustreats.com/2010/03/making-sugar-cookies-recipe-and-tips.html
Recipe Source for Royal Icing: http://www.glorioustreats.com/2010/10/decorating-sugar-cookies-from-start-to-finish-part-2.html
Celebrate the season with this easy recipe for delicious Spring Flower Sugar Cookies, decorated with Royal Icing.
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup (2 cubes) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Parchment paper
- 4 Tablespoons meringue powder
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 6 Tablespoons warm water
- Food coloring , as desired
- Stir flour and baking powder together in bowl, then set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract; continue to beat for an additional minute.
- Slowly add the flour mixture (a bit at a time) to the butter mixture; mix this until all the flour is mixed in, and the dough begins to form ball and pull away from the side of the bowl.
- Remove dough ball from mixer bowl and put it on parchment paper. Knead the dough with your hands 3-4 times. Put the dough into a sealed bag or container; refrigerate it for 2 hours (or into freezer for 25 minutes)
- A few minutes before you get the chilled dough out of refrigerator, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove HALF of the dough (let the rest stay in fridge). Put dough on lightly floured work surface. Roll dough out to 1/3 inch thickness.
- Cut the dough out with your favorite cookie cutters. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet (I bake these on parchment paper). Try to get same-sized cookie shapes on each sheet to ensure even cooking. Put the baking sheet (with cookies) into refrigerator for 3-5 minutes (this will help them keep their shape).
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Bake just until they just start to look golden. Remove from oven; let cookies cool for a minute or two on the pan, then carefully remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Once the cookies are totally cooled, they can be decorated.
- Measure meringue powder and powdered sugar into mixing bowl. Add 6 Tablespoons warm water. Beat until stiff peaks form. Divide icing out into bowls; add food coloring, as desired. Add additional water (1 teaspoon at a time) until you get the right consistency.
- FOR OUTLINING/EDGING: thin with warm water until icing reaches a "corn syrup" thickness (or slightly thicker). Pipe the icing around the border of your design. Let icing dry (half an hour) before flooding the inside of the outlined area.
- FOR FLOODING INSIDE THE OUTLINE: Add additional water to thin icing out. Pipe icing inside outline borders. It should slowly thin out inside border. Use a toothpick to help fill in the space.
- Let icing completely dry before serving (let dry several hours!). ENJOY!
Cookie baking times may vary slightly, depending on the size of the cookie.
This recipe makes approximately 30, 2 1/2 inch cookies or 16 3 1/2 inch cookies.
FYI-The prep time is the time necessary to make the cookies. It does not include decorating time. Sometimes I bake the cookies one day and decorate the next.
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!
If I may, as a cake decorator and “confectionery arts” teacher for many, many years, I would like to share the cookie recipe that I have used about 40 years. It is virtually foolproof, and inexpensive since almost everyone would have the ingredients in their pantry. This recipe dries to a hard, glossy shine so cookies can be stacked to store, or bitten into without the icing breaking off.
Cookie Icing
1 cup icing sugar (powdered/confectioners sugar)
2 tsp. milk
2 tsp. corn syrup (karo – clear if available)
Thoroughly combine the icing sugar and milk, then stir in the corn syrup, mixing well. Add small amounts of corn syrup or icing sugar to reach the desired consistency. Use thicker icing for outlining and thin it a bit to “flood” an area. Colour as you choose. Use a toothpick to push the icing into corners or to drag one colour through another, or to pop tiny air bubbles.