Robyn DeHart’s Famous Sugar Cookies

3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1-3 Tbsp water

Mix all ingredients together. It is a very dry mix, so if you do not have a high powered mixer (a la Kitchen Aid) then it’s probably best to use your hands. Add the water 1 Tbsp at a time just to aid in the mixing, you don’t want the dough to be sticky. Once it is mixed, wrap in waxed paper (you can either shape it into a ball or roll it out a bit between two sheets of waxed paper) and refrigerate for 2-3 hours until easy to handle. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out and cut into shapes. Bake 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges.

Royal Icing

3 Tbsp Meringue powder

4 cups powdered sugar

6 Tbsp water

Mix together all ingredients. Separate icing into smaller bowls if you are going to do colors. Tint each to desired shade (I use Wilton color gels – you can get them at Wal-Mart or craft stores). Put some of the icing in a piping bag (can also use a ziploc and barely cut a corner off to make a small hole) and pipe around the cookie (you are making an outline of the cookie which will act as a dam). Make sure to keep a dampened paper towel covering all icing bowls or they will harden. Once all cookies are piped, you will begin to thin the icing for flooding. Add 1 Tbsp of water at a time to icing and stir. You want the icing to be a glossy and somewhat running consistency. Not too runny though. If you get it too runny, you can just let it sit a bit and it will harden. Spoon amounts of the thinned icing onto the cookie and spread evenly. This will harden into a glossy, beautiful cookie. You can also add sprinkles at this stage. Allow to harden before eating. They freeze well too (both before iced and after).