Cut-Out Cookies with Royal Icing
Cut-out cookies with sharp edges and colorful royal icing, the American Christmas classic.
- Preparation
- 45 min
- Cook/bake time
- 20 min
- Total
- 3 hr 35 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
- 110 kcal
- Servings
- 40 pieces
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cooking & baking
- 20 min
- Resting
- 2 hr 30 min
Only 1 hr 5 min of that is hands-on – the rest takes care of itself.
Cut-out cookies with sharp edges and colorful royal icing, the American Christmas classic. Keeping the shapes sharp is a matter of temperature and not the recipe: cold dough does not spread in the oven. With the icing, egg white does the work, which is why royal icing becomes hard instead of sticky.
Why this works
Cut-out cookies should hold their shape, and that is a matter of temperature, not the recipe. Cold butter in the dough melts more slowly in the oven, so the flour sets in the meantime and the edges remain sharp. Warm dough spreads before it is stable. That is why it is chilled, rolled out cold, and baked straight from the cold, and that is also why the dough contains no baking powder, which would soften the contours. With the icing, the egg white does the work: its molecules form a network as they dry, fixing the sugar. Royal icing becomes hard as a result, while an icing made of sugar and water remains sticky.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Teig zusammenfügen
Verknete Mehl, Puderzucker, Salz und die kalte Butter zu Krümeln. Gib Ei und Vanille dazu und arbeite alles nur so lange, bis der Teig zusammenhält. Je kürzer du knetest, desto mürber wird das Plätzchen.
- 2
Flach kühlen
Teile den Teig in zwei Portionen und roll jede zwischen zwei Lagen Backpapier auf 3 bis 4 mm aus. Leg die Platten übereinander auf ein Blech und kühl sie eine Stunde.
- 3
Ausstechen und backen
Stich die Formen aus der kalten Platte und setz sie mit Abstand aufs Blech. Wird der Teig weich, stell ihn 10 Minuten kalt. Back die Plätzchen bei 180 °C Ober-/Unterhitze 8 bis 10 Minuten, bis die Ränder Farbe nehmen und die Mitte blass bleibt.
- 4
Vollständig abkühlen
Lass die Plätzchen 2 Minuten auf dem Blech nachziehen, dann auf einem Gitter komplett auskühlen – mindestens 30 Minuten. Auf lauwarmem Gebäck zieht der Guss nicht an, sondern läuft über die Kanten.
- 5
Royal Icing anrühren
Schlag Eiweiß, Puderzucker und Zitronensaft 3 bis 4 Minuten auf, bis die Masse in weichen Spitzen steht. Nimm ein Drittel für die Konturen ab. Verdünn den Rest tropfenweise mit Wasser, bis er langsam zusammenläuft, und färb beide Massen ein.
- 6
Verzieren und trocknen
Umrande jedes Plätzchen mit der festen Masse und füll die Fläche mit der dünnen. Streusel kommen sofort darauf, auf angetrocknetem Guss halten sie nicht mehr. Lass alles mindestens eine Stunde trocknen.
Our best tips
- Chill directly in sheet form instead of as a ball. This saves rolling out hard dough and keeps the thickness even.
- No baking powder in the dough. It softens exactly the edges you cut out for.
- Use pasteurized egg white or egg white powder for the icing. Raw egg remains a risk in an unbaked icing, especially for children and pregnant women.
Tasty variations
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Skip the icing and roll the still warm cookies in a mixture of 50 g sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon.
With Lemon
Add the zest of two untreated lemons to the dough and thin the icing with lemon juice instead of water.
What is left over?
This recipe only uses the whites. There are better places for the yolks than the bin.
Nutrition facts
| Calories | 110 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 1 g |
| Carbohydrates | 16 g |
| – of which sugar | 10 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Fiber | 0 g |
Where the 110 kcal come from
per serving
These lines have no quantity (“to taste”) or no table value, so they are missing from the total.
Calculated from the ingredients – how we do it
We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:
- Reference values per 100 g – for the raw ingredient, exactly as listed.
- Tinned goods count at drained weight, bone-in meat at purchase weight: you eat about 70 per cent of a chicken thigh and leave the rest.
- Water evaporates as you cook. The energy stays in the pot, the weight does not – so the figure is per serving, not per 100 g of finished dish.
- Anything listed without a quantity – “salt and pepper” – is not counted.
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my cookies spread?
The dough was too warm. Chill the cut-out shapes for another ten minutes before baking, then the edges will remain sharp.
How long does royal icing need to dry?
Superficially after one hour, completely dried through after six to eight hours. Only then can the cookies be stacked or packed without the pattern suffering.
How long do the cookies keep?
In a tin box for two weeks, decorated and well dried. Unbaked dough can be frozen as a sheet for three months.
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