Eggless Sugar Cookies(Cut-out cookies) with Royal Icing

Sugar cookies are the cutest form of cookies, which is both tasty and also look adorable. These cookies are made with the basic staples which are easily available in every baker's pantry. These cookies are the perfect no-spread cookies and can be used to cut out any desired shape and further be decorated with Royal Icing (Explained later), chocolate coating or sprinkles. The art of baking itself gives you a great scope to be creative, and these sugar cookies go an extra mile giving you all the space needed to be creative and artistic. 

 

The traditional sugar cookies are melt in the mouth, with crispy edges and soft chewy insides. But I wanted to try out something different. I wanted to try out the crispy and crunchy version of these cookies. Here I have demonstrated both ways of making these cookies and also decorating them with Royal Icing. So, without any further delay let's dive into the recipe.

THINGS NEEDED FOR THE SUGAR COOKIES:

Cold Butter: 113 grams - 1/2 cup

Caster Sugar: 145 grams - 1/2 cup + 2 TBSP

All Purpose Flour: 240 grams - 2 cups

Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Water: 1/4 cup - 50ml

Cold Unsalted Butter: In this recipe, we use cold butter to avoid incorporating air.  The butter used must be cold and out of the refrigerator but also not frozen. We usually cream butter and sugar for any cookie recipe to get that good spread. But for these cookies, we should only combine butter and sugar and not cream them. This is important in order to maintain the shape cut out even after baking. I always prefer using unsalted butter and adding salt at a letter stage. This gives me control over the quantity of salt used. 

Caster Sugar: It is important to use caster sugar for this recipe. Granulated sugar takes time to melt with butter which means creaming them for a long time. This will lead to incorporating air which will lead to the spreading of cookies. So make sure to use caster sugar. I have used homemade caster sugar for this recipe. You can also use powdered sugar as an alternative.

Water: Water is used to bind the ingredients together. Normal, room temperature water can be used. 

Vanilla: I have used Vanilla essence for this recipe. You can also use Vanilla bean extract/ bean paste. Using a good quality vanilla essence is important to bring out that flavour.

All-purpose flour: I have used regular all-purpose flour here. You can also use organic unbleached flour if preferred. 

Salt: Using unsalted butter and then adding salt at a later stage gives you good control over the quantity of salt added. Adding salt to these sugar cookies helps balance out the sweetness. 

STEP-BY-STEP PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION: 

Step 1: To a bowl add cubed, cold unsalted butter. With the help of a hand whisk or electric beater start mashing the butter.

  

Step 2: Now add Caster Sugar or powdered sugar to this, and start combining them. 

Step 3: Combine them both, but remember not to cream them vigorously. They should only be brought together.

Step 4: Now add Vanilla essence and combine.

Step 5: Add water and start beating with a hand whisk until it is well combined.

Step 6: To another bowl, add all-purpose flour and salt. Mix well and set aside.

Step 7: Now, to the butter and sugar mixture, add the dry ingredients slowly, two to three tablespoons at a time, and combine.

Step 8: Keep repeating the process until all of the dry ingredients are mixed with the dough mixture.

 

Step 9: Just combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. DO NOT KNEAD or OVERMIX.

STEP 10: Transfer the dough onto a cling wrap and start pressing with your hand to form a flat dough.

Now, wrap the dough and chill it for 15-30 minutes.

Step 11: Once the dough is chilled, place parchment paper on the counter. Let the parchment paper be double the size in length of the dough.

Remove the cling wrap and place the dough on the parchment paper. Split the dough into two parts. It will be easier to work with.

Take one part and flat it out on the counter.

Step 12: Fold the parchment paper and start rolling the dough flat, with the help of a rolling pin.

Now, this step is important because, how thin you roll the dough leads to either soft or crispy crunchy cookies. Rolling the dough to 1/3rd or 1/4th inch thickness leads to soft cookies with crispy edges and rolling them much thinner will give you crispy crunchy cookies.

But one thing for sure is that either way, these cookies taste delicious and they don't spread, thereby holding the shape. 

Step 13: Once they are rolled to the desired thickness, use any cookie cutter of your choice and make shapes. 

Step 14: Remove the excess dough from the parchment paper. This will make it easier to lift the cutout cookie dough. Place them on the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Roll out the excess dough and repeat the process.

Once all cutout cookies are placed on the baking tray, put it back in the refrigerator to chill and start to preheat the oven at 180°c for 10 minutes. 

Once the oven is preheated, place the baking tray in the oven and bake at 180°c for 10-12 minutes, or until they turn golden brown on the edges. 

OBSERVE THE BELOW PICTURES :

PIC 1:

This shows how thin the dough is rolled, leading to crispy crunchy cookies.

PIC 2:

This shows the dough rolled into 1/4th inch thickness, which resulted in soft cookies with crispy edges.

The results are amazing, see below:

Thinly rolled dough, baked at 180°c for 10 minutes.

Slightly thick cookies baked at 180°c for 12 minutes.

These cookies can be had as it is or can be frosted with icing. But traditionally sugar cookies are frosted with royal icing or molten chocolate and sprinkles.

You can find the recipe for easy Eggless Royal Icing here.

Use multiple colours of Royal icing and decorate the cookies as you wish. Remember to make a very tiny hole at the end of the piping bag. That way, you can have a control over the flow of the icing.

  

I have not recorded a video for this recipe. I will update the same here, once I make a video recipe. 

Have you tried this recipe? Post your creations and tag us in Facebook, follow us on Instagram and use #theoryofbakin and visit our Pinterest page for more easy baking recipes. 

Recipe Card:

Eggless Sugar Cookies (Cut-out Cookies) Description: Sugar cookies are the cutest form of cookies, which are both tasty and also look adorable. These cookies are made with the basic staples which are easily available in every baker's pantry. These cookies are the perfect no-spread cookies and can be used to cut out any desired shape and further be decorated with Royal Icing, chocolate coating or sprinkles.. Prep Time: 15 mins + chilling time : 15 mins Cooking time: 10-12 mins Quantity : 25-30 cookies   INGREDIENTS Cold Butter: 113 grams - 1/2 cup Caster Sugar: 145 grams - 1/2 cup + 2 TBSP All Purpose Flour: 240 grams - 2 cups Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp Salt: 1/2 tsp Water: 1/4 cup - 50ml  Instructions: 1. Add cold cubed butter to a bowl. Start mashing it with a hand whisk or electric beater.  2. Add caster sugar and start combining. Remember not to cream them. 3. Add Vanilla Essence/Extract. 4. Add water to this mixture and start combining them together. 5. Add All-purpose flour and salt to another bowl. Mix them and set aside. 6. Now, to the wet mixture, add this dry mix 2-3 tbsp at a time and combine. 7. Repeat the process until all of the dry mix is combined. Remember that the wet and dry mix must only be combined. DONOT OVERMIX or KNEAD. 8. Transfer to a cling wrap and press it to form a flat dough. Wrap it thoroughly and chill it in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes. 9. Place a parchment paper on the counter. Remove the cling wrap and split the cookie dough into two parts. 10. Take one part of the dough and cover it with parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, start rolling this dough. 11. Roll it to 1/4th or 1/3rd inch thickness for soft cookies and roll it much thinner for crispy crunchy cookies. 12. Using cookie cutter, make desired shapes. 13. Remove the excess dough and transfer the cut out cookies to baking tray lined with parchment paper. 14. Repeat the process with the excess dough. 15. Place the baking tray in the refrigerator and meanwhile, start to preheat the oven to 180◦c for 10 minutes.   16. Once the oven is preheated, place the baking tray into the oven and bake at 180◦c for 10-12 minutes. 17. I baked thin cookies for 10 mins and soft cookies for 12 minutes. 18. Immediately once taken out of oven, smoothen it out gently with the help of anything with a flat base. 19. Chill it for 5-10 minutes in baking tray and then transfer them to a cooling rack and cool completely. 20. These cookies can be had as it is, with a hot coffee or tea. They can also be frosted with Royal Icing,  molten Chocolate and sprinkles. Notes: 1. DONOT cream butter and sugar. Creaming of butter and sugar incorporates air which will lead to the spreading of cookies. 2. Scrape sides occasionally and combine while adding the dry mix. DONOT KNEAD. 3. Chilling the dough before cutting really helps. It will give you an easy, mess free, perfectly cut-out cookie.