Doughnut Cookies

Active Time: 45 minutes (Including Decorating)

Start to Eat: 5 Hours (Including Chill Time)

Makes: 30 Cookies

INTRODUCTION

These sugar cookies are the ultimate sugar decorating cookie. They have amazing flavor and texture plus they keep their shape from cookie cutting through cooking and they are very easy to decorate! This recipe is my go-to for every holiday cookie and these doughnut cookies are such a crowd-pleaser.

Also, the only "flavor-forward" ingredient in this cookie is nutmeg and I always use freshly grated nutmeg, I think it makes all the difference! But I obviously know that not everyone has fresh nutmeg in their cabinet which is fine too!

Modified from Bon Appetit's Holiday Sugar Cookies recipe

DONUT
YOU FORGET ABOUT
ME

INGREDIENTS

Dough:

2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best!)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter minus 1 tablespoon, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:

4 cups powdered sugar
3.5 tablespoons meringue or egg white powder
6 tablespoons of lemon juice (or water )
Gel food coloring, I used pink, turquoise, and brown. Leaving a small amount of the plain icing to use as “white”.

Topping:

Rainbow Sprinkles! You can also use coconut, mini chocolate chips, icing decoration, etc. you can get creative here!

INSTRUCTIONS

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl, set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix flour mixture into butter mixture until fully incorporated. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for about 1 minute. Shape dough into two ever circles (about ½ inch thick). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
Take out one circle of dough, let soften for about 15 minutes at room temperature before rolling out. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone mats, or butter. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about ⅛ inch thick. Take circle cutters, roughly 3 ½ inches in diameter for cookie shapes and 1 1/4 for middle cut out. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart, they will not spread much. Gently reroll dough scraps, be sure to flour the surface again. Cut out more cookies and transfer them to the baking sheets.
Bake cookies until light brown on the edges, roughly 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second round of dough. The dough can be frozen for up to a month - it can actually be frozen for longer but be sure to watch for freezer burn.
While the cookies cool, make the icing. Whisk together the powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla extract, and milk. Separate into 4 equal-sized bowls. Using gel food coloring, take a tip of a toothpick and add different colors to each bowl (use a tiny bit at a time, you can always add more!). Place each icing bowl into a plastic bag or piping bag, I like to use regular sandwich-size plastic bags. When ready to decorate, cut the tiniest slit off of a corner of each bag and pipe the outside and inside lines of the “doughnut” icing lines. Once that dries, fill in the rest of the icing making sure to use cookie picks or toothpicks to smooth the icing to the edges. Next, sprinkle on those sprinkles!

BON APPETIT!

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