Chocolate Sugar Cookies

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Chocolaty cookies with frosting that mirror my flower garden!

  Birthdays were the happiest occasions when I was young. (Between you and me, now they remind me that I'm not too far from wrinkles and white hair).  When in school, birthdays were the one day we could wear casual clothes to school, a change from the regular uniform.  I used to wait eagerly for my birthday to roll in to  show off my color dress (that's what we called casual clothes then) and distribute candy.  How things have changed now!

 For an example, when my daughter celebrated her birthday last week, it was different.   She wears casual clothes to school everyday, so then, how do you make it special?  She had an answer!  Dress up chocolate cookies, her favorite, for the occasion.  I am glad we decided to go with her instinct because the sugar cookies with frosting came out vibrant and festive.   

 To add to all that, since both my children helped to make the different shapes and frosting, it became a family event.  We had quite a good time in spite of all the spilling and mopping that comes with the territory of group activity.  It was with great restraint that we were all able to keep ourselves from licking. 

Which do you like the most? It's hard to choose, I know.

My daughter would say the one with purple icing, since that's her favorite color.  I am partial to this one too, because it is my own creation.  I added blue and red in 2:1 proportion to get the desired result.    When you are trying keep adding more red if you think you need to soften the blue further.     

Did you notice the sprinkles are little butterflies? Oh, yeah! They are, and it made my daughter's heart flutter with excitement and squeal with delight, every time we sprinkled some on. Childhood, such a delightful time!

Ingredients:

For Cookies:

All purpose Flour- 2 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder (preferably Dutch processed)- 3/4 cup
Baking Powder- 1 tsp
Salted Butter- 1/2 cup
Unsalted Butter- 1/2 cup
Granulated white sugar- 1 1/2 cup
Eggs- 2
Pure vanilla extract- 2 tsp

For Icing :

See here
But if you are making the above amount of cookies you may have to make double the amount for icing, but the proportions are the same.



Method:

1.Mix the flour,cocoa powder and baking powder by whisking together them in a large mixing bowl.
2.Beat the butter and sugar well in a bowl,until smooth and soft.
3.Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
4.Pour the vanilla extract and mix well.
5.Mix the wet and dry ingredients to make a dough.
6.Divide the dough into 2 or 4 equal parts and make disc shape and wrap them in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until they are firm enough to roll.
7.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
8.When the dough is ready, take one disc from the fridge and roll it on a flat surface until it is about 1/4 inch thick and cut it with a cookie cutter to get your favorite shapes.
9.Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets and chill them for at least 15 minutes. This helps the cookies to retain their shape while baking.
10.Bake them for 10-12 minutes and cool on a wire rac before you do the frosting.
11.Meanwhile prepare the next batch of cookies and chill them before baking.
12.Prepare the frosting by mixing everything together and spoon it on the cookies. Let it dry,this may take several hours. Store them in an airtight container.



Sending this to From My home Kitchen's Chocolaty Dreams event
AND
Champa's Bake Off event

Notes:

1. Butter should be at room Temperature.
2.You could use the normal cocoa powder, if you don't have Dutch processed.I used a mixture of both :-)
3.According to the original recipe, Royal Icing is recommended. But I didin't have any Meringue powder at home and didn't want to take any Salmonella risk, by using the raw egg whites.
4. Makes around 4 dozen.

Recipe Adapted From: Joy of Baking

Contributor: Namitha