Soft Almond Sugar Cookie Snowflakes

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Soft Almond Sugar Cookie Snowflakes are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat: made with a soft and buttery almond sugar cookie base, royal icing glaze, and shaped into a winter wonderland of colorful snowflakes!

Decorated soft almond sugar cookie snowflakes laid out

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Is it even the holidays if sugar cookies are not on your table? They are a staple for the season for sure. I have always been a shortbread girl, but this Soft Almond Sugar Cookie recipe is a perfect combination of my shortbread cookie and soft sugar cookie. There is a slight crisp to the edges, soft and buttery center, and a delicate almond flavor so you get the best of both worlds. I love the addition of almond extract to this recipe to make the cookies a little extra special.

But as delicious as they are to eat, they are equally as beautiful to decorate and serve. Piping on the beautiful royal icing is probably the best part! Create all of the colorful, festive designs you can dream up. I have loved creating so many amazing Christmas cookies this season, but it wouldn't be complete without a winter wonderland of snowflake cookies. They are sure to be a holiday favorite!

Ingredients

flour, powdered sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, almond extract and butter measured out

Almond Sugar Cookie Dough

Flour- Good ol' all-purpose flour works great
Butter- Unsalted butter will beautifully moisten the cookies
Sugar- Powdered sugar for the perfect sweetness
Almond & Vanilla Extract- The combination of flavors that takes these cookies to the next level!

Royal Icing

Powdered Sugar- For sweetness and the right texture
Pasteurized Egg Whites- The key ingredient in royal icing
Vanilla Extract- For just a touch of flavor
Food Coloring- Whatever colors you like!

Directions

dough rolled out with a rolling pin and snowflake cookie cutters cutting the dough

Prepare the Almond Sugar Cookie Dough

Cream together the butter and powdered sugar
Add the egg, almond extract and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until fully combined
Add the flour into the butter mixture and mix just until combined
On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and gently knead until it comes together
Shape the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap
Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the dough to rest

Bake the Almond Sugar Cookies

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ⅛-¼ inch thick, cut the dough using a variety of size snowflake cookie cutters and place on a prepared baking sheet
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes (cookies will have very slight golden color only on the edges, you want the centers to be soft)
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely before icing

Snowflake cut out cookies stacked with greenery for decoration

Prepare the Royal Icing

In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whisk together the powdered sugar, egg whites and vanilla extract until fully combined, creamy
The icing should be thick enough to create a ribbon texture when you lift a spoon of icing from the bowl and then it should lay flat once it has settled back into the bowl (You don't want the icing too runny or it will spread off of the cookie and not keep its shape)

decorated soft almond sugar cookie snowflakes laid out together

Divide the royal icing into 4 bowls and mix each bowl of royal icing with the food coloring of your choice
Fill pastry bags with each individual color of royal icing; set aside
Using a very fine round tip or cut the pastry bag to be a very fine point, outline the perimeter of all of the snowflake cookies and allow the icing outline to dry
Once the outline is dry, cut the hole a little bit bigger (not much) or use slightly larger tip to fill in each snowflake with the same color as the outline (the outline should prevent the icing from flowing over the edge of the cookie)
Allow the icing base to dry, approximately 20-30 minutes before piping the snowflake detail on each cookie
Using the same color as the base of the cookie and a very fine tip on your pastry bag, pipe the snowflake detail on each cookie. You can be creative and make each snowflake the same or different
Allow the snowflake cookies to try before serving, stacking on a platter or packaging to gift

a stack of soft almond sugar cookie snowflakes

Be creative and try different flavors! Peppermint sugar cookies would be delicious and sugar festive over the holiday. Simply replace the almond extract with peppermint extract. Or if you want to go even more simple, use only vanilla extract!
You can use my classic Shortbread Cookie Dough in place of the Almond Sugar Cookie dough
Chilling the Sugar Cookie Dough for 30 minutes will allow the dough to rest and will make it easier to roll out.
If you don't want to decorate and glaze the cookies with royal icing, you can dust the cookies with powdered sugar and they will still be beautiful and delicious.

What is royal icing?

Royal icing is a white icing that is made with pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar. This creamy icing will be soft at first but will harden over time. When glazing cookies, royal icing creates the perfect base to add color and design to each cookie. It will flow perfectly when piping and smooth out once it is set on the cookie. The top of the cookie will create a crust and slightly harden so that the cookies can be stacked or packaged but under the crust of the icing it will stay soft.

Can I replace the egg whites with meringue powder in the royal icing?

Royal icing can be made with meringue powder, but I really prefer using pasteurized egg whites for a creamy and decadent glaze.

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Almond Sugar Cookie Snowflakes

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Author: kristen massad
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 20-24 1x

Ingredients

Scale

Almond Sugar Cookie Dough
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 ½ Cups Powdered Sugar
1 ½ teaspoon Almond Extract
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
1 egg

Royal Icing
4 Cups Powdered Sugar (add more if icing is to liquidy)
¼-½ Cup Pasteurized Egg Whites (add more if the icing is to stiff)
¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Food Coloring

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Prepare the Almond Sugar Cookie Dough:

In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and powdered sugar
Add the egg, almond extract and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until fully combined
Add the flour into the butter mixture and mix just until combined
On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and gently knead until it comes together
Shape the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap
Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the dough to rest

Bake the Almond Sugar Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ⅛-¼ inch thick, cut the dough using a variety of size snowflake cookie cutters and place on a prepared baking sheet
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes (cookies will have very slight golden color only on the edges, you want the centers to be soft)
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely before icing

Prepare the Royal Icing

In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whisk together the powdered sugar, egg whites and vanilla extract until fully combined, creamy

*The icing should be thick enough to create a ribbon texture when you lift a spoon of icing from the bowl and then it should lay flat once it has settled back into the bowl
*You don’t want the icing to liquid or it will spread off of the cookie and not keep its shape

Decorate and Ice the Snowflake Almond Sugar Cookies

Diving the royal icing into 4 bowls and mix each bowl of royal icing with the food coloring of your choice
Fill pastry bags with each individual color of royal icing; set aside
Using a very fine round tip or cut the pastry bag to be a very fine point, outline the perimeter of all of the snowflake cookies and allow the icing outline to dry
Once the outline is dry, cut the hole a little bit bigger (not much) or use slightly larger tip to fill in each snowflake with the same color as the outline (the outline should prevent the icing from flowing over the edge of the cookie)
Allow the icing base to dry, approximately 20-30 minutes before piping the snowflake detail on each cookie
Using the same color as the base of the cookie and a very fine tip on your pastry bag, pipe the snowflake detail on each cookie. You can be creative and make each snowflake the same or different
Allow the snowflake cookies to try before serving, stacking on a platter or packaging to gift

Notes

If you don't love almond, remove the almond extract and replace the extract with vanilla
Be creative and try different flavors, Peppermint sugar cookies would be delicious and sugar festive over the holiday. Simply replace the almond extract with peppermint extract
You can use my classic Shortbread Cookie Dough in place of the Almond Sugar Cookie dough
Chilling the Sugar Cookie Dough for 30 minutes will allow the dough to rest and will make it easier to roll out.
If you don't want to decorate and glaze the cookies with royal icing, you can dust the cookies with powdered sugar and they will be beautiful and delicious.
Royal Icing can be made with meringue powder, but I prefer using pasteurized egg whites for a creamy and decadent glaze