Sugar Cookies Class

I'm teaching baking classes to a couple of young ladies at my church.  Our first lesson was sugar cookies.  I used the recipe for no fail sugar cookies from cakecentral.com .  I changed a couple of ingredients to make it healthier.  http://cakecentral.com/recipes/no-fail-sugar-cookies/print
No Fail Sugar Cookies – NFSC


Ingredients

6 cups flour  (I used whole grain pastry flour)

3 tsp. baking powder

2 cups unsalted butter

2 cups sugar (I used palm sugar)
2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)

1 tsp. salt

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe
can make up to 5-dozen  cookies.

This recipe was almost too much for a regular kitchen aide, so I would recomend checking the bottom of the dough often.

We used a from scratch recipe for the royal icing.  http://www.wilton.com/recipe/print/Egg-White-Royal-Icing-1
Egg White Royal Icing dries hard—so you can make flowers or other decorations in advance. Meringue Powder gives it an extra-stiff texture.

Ingredients:

3 egg whites (room temperature)

4 cups (approximately 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar (I used thot not powdered sugar which leaves it an off white)

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
I also added a tsp of vanilla for better taste

Makes:

2 1/2 cups.

Instructions:

Step 1
Beat all ingredients at high speed for 7 to 10 minutes. Use immediately. Rebeating will not restore texture.

Step 2
Wilton says:  *For use only as non-edible decorations which will not come in direct contact with the cake. Wash hands and utensils thoroughly after making recipe.
But I think it is fine to eat.

I just let the girls play around with thr icing since it had been such a long day laerning how to bake and cut out the cookies.
I also taught them how to thin the icing to cover cookie pops.

Tomorrow we are learning cupcakes and IMBC!
Have a great day ya'll!
Missy