Sweet Sheep Sugar Cookies

Sweet Sheep Sugar Cookies

November 25, 2015

Sugar cookies are very tolerant by nature. Sugar cookie dough doesn’t care how many times you re-roll the scraps or how much flour you use to keep them from sticking to the counter. What’s important is their fun shape and the crazy decorations. Every kid of every age love the end result; they are just so damn fun!

I have a fetish for animal cookie cutters (moose, rabbits, fish, butterflies, piggies, sheep, doggies, paw prints, etc) and I LOVE Hammer Song Cookie cutters. They are handmade tin cutters that are endearing in every way, and are still in production today. I get mine at www.fancyflours.com, but you can find them with a simple Google search and choose a supplier closest to you.

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Ingredients

Makes about 20 sheep

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

  • 2 cups 240 grams 8.5 ounces all-purpose flour, bleached
  • ¼ teaspoon ¼ teaspoon ¼ teaspoon  fine salt
  • ½ teaspoon ½ teaspoon ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 stick 113 grams 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup 198 grams 7 ounces white sugar
  • 1 1 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons brandy of any kind
  • ½ teaspoon ½ teaspoon ½ teaspoon vanilla

Icing Ingredients

  • 1 cup 227 grams 4 ounces confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 1 1 egg white
  • a few drops of lemon juice
  • luster dust--oyster
  • disco dust--pink
  • gel coloring --petal pink
  • gel coloring--black

Instructions

Special Cookie Equipment

MISE EN PLACE–SUGAR COOKIES

MAKE THE COOKIE

  • Cream the butter and sugar until very smooth. Add the egg, brandy and vanilla mixture, and beat well until very light in color. It’s important to dissolve the sugar well at this point. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and mix well, until just incorporated. Turn the dough onto the counter and gather it up into a ball. Knead it a little until smooth, and divide into 3 equal pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic and refrigerate until firm, overnight if necessary.

ROLL AND CUT THE COOKIES

  • Take out one piece of cookie dough and unwrap it. Generously flour your work surface. Cut a piece of plastic wrap and lay it over the cold dough. The plastic wrap will prevent the dough from cracking and will create a very smooth surface that will bake nicely. With your hands, begin to move the dough to soften it a bit. Starting in the center, roll the dough outwards, adjusting the plastic wrap as needed. If the dough cracks, just push it back together, and continue rolling. With every turn, lift the dough and keep the underneath well-floured. This will ease the cut cookies and keep the shape intact. Roll the dough no more than 1/8 of an inch. NOTE: Rolling the dough to 1/8” is a standard thickness for cut cookies. Take the time to measure the thickness, as this will help them bake evenly, and will produce a lovely, crunchy texture. Rolling it to ¼” will give you a thicker, chewy cookie and change the baking times.

LIFTING THE COOKIES ONTO THE TRAYS

  • Press the cookie cutter thoroughly into the dough, ensuring that you haven’t missed any edges or corners. Using an offset spatula, lift the cookie off the surface and transfer it to a lightly sprayed tray. If the cookie sticks to the surface, run the spatula underneath the cut dough. An offset spatula is the tool that will make a huge difference in your finished cookie, as there will be less distortion; the dough will stay cool, and there will be less breakage.
Baked sweet sheep.
Baked sweet sheep.

BAKING THE COOKIES

  • Once you have a full tray, slide it into a preheated oven. Set the timer for 7 minutes and add one or two minutes at a time until you have the desired time. Try to minimize browning the edges as best you can while at the same time, baking the cookie until they are firm to the touch. Cool them on the tray. The cookies will pop off easily, then let rest on a cooling rack

ICING SPECIAL ICING EQUIPMENT

  • Two medium sized mixing bowls, assortment of hobby brushes, pastry bag, a coupler and a #1 tip, gold dragees, a pair of tweezers.
Painting supplies.
Painting supplies.

MAKING THE ICING

  • In a medium bowl, measure 1 c. confectioners’ sugar. Add the egg white, a few drops of lemon juice and stir until smooth. It’s finished when the consistency is drops off the spoon very slowly and doesn’t melt into itself easily. It needs to move through the tip easily or spread with a nice opacity. If you feel the icing is too stiff, loosen it with more lemon juice. If you want the icing stiffer, add more sugar. Divide the icing into three bowls. Add just a tiny, tiny drop of petal pink in one bowl. You want a soft, pale pink. It’s easier to add more than to try to dilute the colour. Add black to another bowl and leave the third bowl white. Stir vigorously until the colours are evenly blended.

DECORATING THE COOKIES

  • With a dry brush, paint the petal pink over the body of a cooled cookie, excluding the feet, ears and head. Paint all the sheep with the petal pink icing. If the icing isn’t spreading nicely, wet the brush a little and continue. Let dry. Prepare the Luster Dust–Oyster by combining 1/8 tsp of vodka or other grain alcohol with a tiny amount of Luster Dust. Paint over the petal pink icing. Apply a second coat if desired. Let dry. With the black icing, paint the feet and ears black. Use a smaller brush to control the small spaces. Fill the pastry bag with the white icing, and pipe loops along the back of the sheep. Pipe an eye and fill in the heart with white icing. Use a small brush to push the icing into place, if needed. Mix 1/8 tsp of vodka or other wood grain alcohol with the Disco Dust–pink. Paint the heart in 2 or 3 coats. Finally, add one gold dragee over the white icing of the eye.
Sweet Sheep Sugar Cookies, The Finer Cookie.
Sweet Sheep Sugar Cookies, The Finer Cookie.

NOTE: It’s mind-boggling how much cookie decorating equipment is available. Again, I shop first at www.fancyflours.com. You’ll never be short on resources for decorating supplies–they are abundant. For the purpose of this recipe, the specific colours and glitters are listed above.

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