Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies with Royal Icing
In the true spirit of Halloween, we were going for spooky ghosts… but these turned out rather cute. Whatever style you’re going for, we’ve got the perfect cutout cookie recipe for all your holiday baking fun, as well as an easy to make royal icing recipe. We also experimented with a way to make black icing without relying solely on dyes and it turned out well enough that we’re sharing it here, for your use. Enjoy!
A video demonstration of this recipe is on Celiac Kitchen’s YouTube channel.
Ghost Cut Out Cookies
Small batch recipe made 12 cookies; double recipe to increase yield
Bake at 350°F for 10 – 11 minutes
Ingredients:
1 egg, room temperature; separate whites and yolks (will use 1/2 yolk in cookies; can use egg white in royal icing)
½ cup (1 stick or 4 oz) butter, room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla*
¼ teaspoon almond extract (or your preferred flavor) *
*Labeled gluten free – flavor extracts are high risk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup flour (your favorite 1:1 gluten free substitute for wheat flour; we used Bob’s Red Mill )
Instructions:
1. Mix butter and cream cheese until creamy, about 2 minutes with a pause to scrape sides and bottom of bowl; start on low and gradually increase speed
2. Add ½ the egg yolk (as close as possible); mix 1-2 minutes
3. Mix in:
Vanilla extract
Almond extract (or your preferred flavor)
4. Stir in:
Salt
5. Add ½ the flour at a time; start mixer on low and slowly increase speed
Mix to incorporate
Add other half of flour; mix until well combined, about 2 minutes; stop to scrape bowl as needed
6. Form dough into a ball shape in bottom of mixing bowl
Sprinkle plastic wrap with powdered sugar; leave edges clean so plastic wrap will seal
Place dough ball on plastic wrap
Sprinkle top of dough with powdered sugar
Wrap dough; refrigerate until dough is firm, at least 1 hour
Photos above: Separate egg yolk from white; mix butter and cream cheese; add 1/2 the flour at a time; mix until well combined; place dough ball on plastic wrap sprinkled with powdered sugar; chill wrapped dough for at least 1 hour
Roll and Shape Dough
Work with ½ the dough at a time; keep other half refrigerated
Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thick
Cut cookies into your favorite shape
Re-roll scraps and cut more shapes
Bake at 350°F for 10 – 11 minutes, until edges are set
Let cool completely before decorating
Please Note:
Work quickly as dough softens and gets sticky as it warms; if dough begins to get sticky or hard to work with, put in refrigerator until it becomes firm again, about 10 - 15 minutes
If cut out cookies are soft, pop in fridge for about 10 minutes before baking
Photos above: Work with 1/2 the dough at a time; roll to about 1/4 inch thick; cut into favorite shapes; bake until edges are set, 10 - 11 minutes
Royal Icing
Covers 12 cookies
Ingredients:
2 egg whites (62 g)
½ teaspoon lemon juice
2 1/2 cups (300 g) powdered sugar
Instructions:
Combine egg whites and lemon juice
Use whisk attachment to whip until it starts to get frothy
Gradually add powdered sugar
Use whisk attachment to whip together until thick and glossy; if too thick for spreading, add a drop of water
Photos above: Whip egg whites and lemon juice until frothy; gradually add in powdered sugar until thick and glossy
Optional: black icing for eyes and mouth - without relying solely on dyes
Put about 1 tablespoon icing in small bowl
Add approximately 5 teaspoons special dark 100% cocoa powder
Add 2 teaspoons water
Use 2 parts blue, 2 part green, 1 part red dye
Mix together to combine adding small amounts of each ingredient at a time until you get the right color and consistency for your cookies; set aside and use later to draw on eyes and mouth
Photos above: Gluten free googly eyes are hard to find. This trick will treat you to another option for eyes and mouth
Decorating Cookies
Add just under ½ the icing into piping bag for outlining cookies
Or turn a plastic sandwich bag into piping bag:
Add icing, push out air, seal bag, trim off corner, push icing out through that corner
2. Outline cookies (this makes it easier when you flood later)
Use toothpick to make any corrections
3. Let icing dry (5 – 10 minutes)
4. Thin remaining icing to desired thickness to flood, using about 1/2 tsp water
5. Add thinned icing to piping bag or plastic sandwich bag; make a small corner cut in plastic bag
6. Flood cookies
7. Use toothpick to smooth icing
8. Let dry a bit, then embed googly eyes* into icing
Gluten free googly eyes can be hard to find
Optional:
Use a toothpick to draw on eyes and mouth with black icing
Please Note:
Thinner icing is easier to work with but takes longer to dry
If using thicker icing that dries faster, fill 4 at a time, smooth them, then repeat for reamining cookies
Photos above: Outline cookies; use a toothpick to smooth icing as needed; add thinned icing to fresh piping bag; flood cookies with thinned icing; use toothpick to fill in and smooth icing; embed gluten free googly eyes to partially dried icing