For a festive treat, here is a simple recipe for holiday sugar cookies that you can bake and decorate at home, courtesy of the up-and-coming chefs at Granville Island’s Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. (Or, if baking isn’t really your thing, you could also pick some up at PICA’s Blue Hat Bakery until Dec. 24 at 1 p.m.)
This winter, PICA’s culinary, baking and pastry students are also offering a Taste of Canada prix-fixe menu showcasing recipes from Canada’s most celebrated chefs, including Jonathan Gushue of Fogo Island Inn, and a gelato workshop by Uno Gelato’s James Coleridge starting in January.
This recipe makes 12 medium-sized cookies.
Ingredients
320 g all-purpose flour
1 g salt (a pinch)
145 g sugar
160 g butter
40 g eggs (approximately 1 egg depending on size)
30 ml milk
½ tsp vanilla
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F.
Sift flour with salt and set aside. Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy.
Combine the milk and eggs then add alternately with the dry mix to the butter-sugar mixture. Once cookie dough comes together, wrap in plastic and chill in refrigerator until firm.
Roll out dough to a thickness of approximately 6mm/.25 inches. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake until cookies are lightly golden on the edges (approximately 8 -12 minutes depending on cookie shapes and thickness).
Royal icing instructions
as needed Icing sugar
as needed Water
as needed Food coloring in assorted holiday colors
Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add a drop or two of colour. Add a very small amount of water and stir. Add a few more drops of water and stir until the paste thickens to an almost toothpaste-like consistency. This paste will be used for the outline of your shaped cookies. Fill pastry bag with some of the paste and pipe along the outline of the cookies. Make as many batches as required for different colors.
Once the cookies are outlined, add a few drops of water to the remaining icing until it is the consistency of honey. Flood spaces between the outlines. Once hardened, pipe on any additional details as desired.
Taste more from our recipe archive.
