So, confession: I made these cookies after drinking a few cocktails. And I made the discovery that this cookie cutter could be used to make X-rated cookies — just modify these palm trees in a few ways and, uh, yeah. I’m not mature enough for this cookie cutter! But anyway, these are palm trees. Innocent palm trees.
If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:
- I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below. Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
- I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
- If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding. Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).
Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:
- As usual, the cookie cutter was purchased on Amazon.
- You’ll need green food coloring and two shades of brown. I used Wilton’s Leaf Green gel coloring, and AmeriColor’s Brown and Light Tan. If you can’t find brown food coloring, an alternative would be to make chocolate royal icing.
- I outlined and flooded the trunk of the tree and the leaves — and allowed the cookies to dry/set completely. Then I piped the detailing on the trunk and leaves. I used a small round pastry tip for the detailing.
Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). The yield will depend on the size of your palm trees. My cookie cutter was rather large, so I was able to make about a dozen palm tees with this recipe.
White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.
Note: you’ll likely need two batches of this icing (depending on how many cookies you are making).
