Dark brown sugar imparts welcome depth to these cookies that are oh-so festive when decorated with Royal Icing and silver pearl sprinkles. Pictured with our Apple Butter Sufganiyot and Toasted Sesame Baklava.
Star of David Brown Sugar Cookies
Serves: 28 to 30
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Royal Icing (recipe follows)
- Royal blue gel food coloring
- Black gel food coloring
- Water, as needed
- Garnish: silver pearl sprinkles†
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Line 3 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place butter and dark brown sugar and slowly increase speed to medium, beating until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer at low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until a dough forms. Scrape down sides of bowl and knead by hand 3 to 4 times in the bowl to make sure ingredients are well combined. Divide dough in half; cover one half with plastic wrap.
- On a heavily floured surface using a rolling pin, roll out dough half to a 1⁄4-inch thickness, lightly flouring top of dough if it sticks to rolling pin. Using a 3-inch star of David–shaped cutter, cut as many shapes from dough as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Using a spatula, place cookies at least 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake, a batch at a time, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
- In a small bowl, place 3⁄4 cup Royal Icing. In a medium bowl, place remaining Royal Icing. To prevent icing from drying out, cover each bowl with a damp cloth.
- To the icing in the smaller bowl, slowly add royal blue food coloring and just a touch of black food coloring until desired blue hue is achieved. Add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed, until a pipeable consistency* is reached. Cover with damp cloth and set aside.
- To icing in the medium bowl, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until a dippable consistency is achieved**. Working with one cooled cookie at a time and holding each by its sides, dip cookies facedown into icing, pull cookie straight out, and then lightly shake cookie back and forth, letting excess icing drip off as much as possible***. Quickly flip cookie over, icing side up, and using a wooden pick, spread icing into an even layer, popping and filling any bubbles as needed. Place cookies on a flat surface and let dry, 2 to 3 hours.
- Transfer blue icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (Wilton #5). Referring to photographs on these pages, pipe around edges of cookies in desired pattern.
- Using tweezers, garnish each point of each cookie with a silver sprinkle, if desired. Let dry completely before storing in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
*Consistency for detail piping should be thicker than icing for coating the cookie. When a whisk or spatula is lifted out of the icing, there should be soft peaks. Too thick? Not easy to pipe and not coming out of the piping tip smooth? Add more water. Too thin? Not keeping its shape when piped? Add more thicker icing or add some confectioners’ sugar a little at a time.
**When a whisk or spatula is lifted out of the icing, it should run off in a steady stream and should take approximately 10 seconds to sink back into icing.
***If cookie is too hard to pull out of the icing, then more water needs to be added. If excess icing does not drip off easily, more water needs to be added. If there are a lot of bubbles on the surface of the cookies, then more water needs to be added.
†We used Wilton.
**When a whisk or spatula is lifted out of the icing, it should run off in a steady stream and should take approximately 10 seconds to sink back into icing.
***If cookie is too hard to pull out of the icing, then more water needs to be added. If excess icing does not drip off easily, more water needs to be added. If there are a lot of bubbles on the surface of the cookies, then more water needs to be added.
†We used Wilton.
