Donut Sugar Cookie Decorating Tutorial
Make sugar cookies that are perfect for rolling and then decorate them into cute donuts! This is a beginner friendly cookie decorating tutorial.
Equipment
- 1 Donut Cookie Cutter
- 1 Icing Bottle or Piping Bag
- 1 Round Icing Tip, any size
- 1 Rolling Pin
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookies:
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup White Sugar
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour you will need extra to flour your surfaces
- 3/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt don't skimp on this!
For the Royal Icing:
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 3 tbsp Meringue Powder
- Room Temperature Water as needed
- 5 drops Baby Pink Gel Food Coloring Chocolate Brown Gel Coloring Optional
- Long Pastel Jimmy Sprinkles
Instructions
To Make the Sugar Cookies:
- In a standing mixer, cream together butter and sugar until mixed and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and eggs and continue to beat until all the ingredients are blended.
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix but only until the ingredients are combined.
- Wrap the dough in cellophane and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Overnight is even better.
- Flour a large flat cutting board and roll the cookie dough to 1/2 - 1/4 inch thick. Thicker dough will make softer cookies.
- Flour your donut cookie cutter and punch the shapes. Place the donut shapes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.
- Continue to roll up any unused dough and roll again to punch as many donut shapes as you can.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
To Frost the Donut Sugar Cookies:
- In a stand mixer, combine the sugar and meringue powder.
- Add 8 tablespoons of room temperature water, using the whisk attachment, beat for 1 minute on low.
- Continue to add water one tablespoon at a time until the icing slowly drizzles from the whisk when lifted.
- Once prepared, if the icing is too hard, add more water. If it's too runny, add more icing sugar.
- Separate the icing into small mixing bowls and add desired food coloring. Start with about 5 drops and blend it thoroughly.
- Use a spoon to scoop the icing into piping bags or icing bottles with a round tip already attached.
- Line around the edge "flooding" the edge of the design with icing. Your lines can be wavvy unique and uneven. Make a line around the outer edge and inner edge.
- Let the flood set for a minute.
- Then fill in the rest of the icing. Use a toothpick to poke bubbles or direct icing into spaces as needed.
- While the icing is still liquid, add the sprinkles evenly across the entire cookie.
- Allow the icing to finish setting.