Spritz Cookies With Royal Icing

A while ago I went to a farmers market and there was a cookie shop selling some small bite sized cookies with a drop of royal icing on the top of them.  They were very light, buttery cookies and without knowing you would eat a ton of them.  I have been trying to reproduce them and have finally produced a recipe that is very similar to them.

For the Cookies you will need:

• 3 sticks of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 1/2 cups of flour

For the royal icing you will need:

• 2 egg whites (about 3oz.)
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 4 cups of confectioners suger
• Water
• Food coloring 

Additional supplies you might need, but do not have to have (what I used):

• A seasoned baking stone
• A cookie press
• Silpat baking mats http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=11556167

For the cookies:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl.
2. Add the egg yolks and vanilla
3. Then start by mixing in the flour 1 cup at a time.

When you are done mixing you will get one large lump of dough that is able to be put in a cookie press or rolled flat with a rolling pin.

For the royal icing:

1. Place the egg whites in a high speed mixer or hand mixer and beat the egg whites for about 3 min on high.  You want them to be foamy but not at the merange state. 
2. Add in the vanilla flavoring and beat again for a minute or so. 
3. Then 1 cup at a time add in the confectioners sugar.  It will be thick when you are mixing.
4. Add small amounts of water to the icing to thin it out. You will want it to be about the thickness of honey or molasses when you are done mixing.
5. Divide the icing if you want more then one color. Add in the desired amount of coloring and mix well.

Unused royal icing can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, just make sure to thoroughly stir it again before using.

Heat the oven to 350ºF.

Load your cookie dough into the cookie press or roll it out. press/cut the cookies out onto the baking stone/un-greased cookie sheets and bake them in the oven for 13 minutes.  Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the baking stone/ cookie sheet for about 10-15 min.  

After the cookies have completely cooled take the royal icing and begin dipping the tops or piping the royal icing on the top of the cookies.  Now you can place them on the silpats/waxpaper to let the royal icing harden.  I left them out overnight, if you have a fan in your kitchen they should be ready much sooner. 

These work perfect for Christmas cookie plates or for parties in general.  Nice thing about them is you only have to make one type of cookie but if you make multiple colors of the royal icing it looks like a large variety of cookies when it is on a platter.