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Iced maple leaf cookies on a baking sheet.

Iced Maple Leaf Sugar Cookies

Heather Smoke
Soft baked, iced maple leaf sugar cookies, spiced with cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, and glazed with sweet maple icing.

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5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings2 dozen

Equipment

  • Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
  • Rolling Pin and Cookie Cutters
  • Piping Bag
  • Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)

Ingredients
 

Cookies

  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
  • ¼ tsp ground cardamom
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp maple extract
  • 3 tbsp whole milk

Icing

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ tbsp meringue powder
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp maple extract
  • 3-4 tbsp water
  • bronze and gold edible luster dust powders

Instructions
 

Make the Cookie Dough

  • In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, salt and spices until combined.
    With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.
    Add the vanilla extract, maple extract and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
  • Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
  • Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
    Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.

Roll the Dough and Cut the Cookies

  • On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out to an even thickness of between 1/4 -1/8 inch thick.
    Use a maple leaf cutter to cut as many cookies as you can, placing the cut cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
    Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookies as you can.
    Note: With a 3 1/2 inch maple leaf cutter, you'll be able to cut about 2 dozen cookies. Or just cut 18 cookies, and cut the rest of the dough with a smaller 2 inch maple leaf cutter for a variety of sizes.
  • Place the baking sheets with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 1 hour (or freeze for 30 minutes) - chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don't spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.

Bake the Cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
    Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 10 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges. (The small 2-inch cookies will only need to bake for about 6-7 minutes.)
  • Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
    Sugar cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care.

Make the Icing

  • In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the vanilla extract, maple extract, and 3 tablespoons of the water, and stir everything together with a spatula.
  • Now use an electric mixer (hand held is fine) to mix the icing on the lowest speed for 2 minutes, until smooth and well combined. Scrape the bowl down and mix for 30 more seconds.
  • Check the icing consistency by letting the icing drip off a spatula back into the bowl and counting to 5. The icing should be thin enough that what drips off the spatula should disappear into the bowl of icing by the count of 5. If it's too thick and holds its shape for longer than 5 seconds, stir in more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the consistency is just right. The icing is now a "flooding" consistency, which is perfect for glazing over the cookies.
  • Place a piping bag in a tall glass, and fold the bag over the edge of the glass to position it upright. Fill the bag half full of icing, then twist the top of the bag closed and secure with a rubber band. If you don't secure the top of the bag, the icing can run out the top while you're decorating the cookies. Cover the remaining bowl of icing with plastic wrap or a damp paper towel, so you can refill the piping bag as needed.

Ice the Cookies

  • Lay out the cooled cookies on a baking sheet or other work surface. Snip a small amount off the tip of the piping bag.
  • Working with one cookie at a time, pipe an outline onto the cookie, but don't get too close to the edge, or the icing can drip off. Immediately fill in the center of the cookie with icing; don't worry if there are gaps. Now take a toothpick or a cookie decorating "scribe" needle, and push the icing around to fill in any gaps and to neaten the outline, if needed. Place the iced cookie back onto the baking sheet.
  • Once all the cookies are iced, let them sit, undisturbed, until the surface of the icing is completely dry to the touch, about 1 hour.
    Note: If you want to decorate the cookies with sprinkles or sparkling sugar, you'll need to do that right away before the icing dries, or the sprinkles won't stick.

Decorate the Cookies

  • Once the cookies are dry, you can decorate with luster dust.
  • For the minimal, speckled look in today's post, dip a small craft brush in luster dust. Hold the brush a few inches above the cookies, then lightly blow the dust off the brush onto the cookies.
  • For more vivid color, brush the dust directly onto the icing.

Dry and Store the Cookies

  • Let the icing on the cookies dry and harden for at least 6-8 hours, before stacking or storing the cookies.
  • Once fully dry, you can store the cookies in an airtight container. It's fine to stack the cookies at this point, separated by sheets parchment paper.

Notes

  • Making the Dough without a Food Processor:  If you don't have a food processor, you'll need a large bowl and a pastry cutter.  In the bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.  Scatter with the cold butter pieces and use the pastry cutter to cut the butter in until very finely cut and evenly distributed.  Drizzle with the vanilla and milk, then use your hands to work the liquid into the dry ingredients until it forms into a soft dough.
  • Storing the Baked Cookies:  Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.  If you won't be frosting and decorating them immediately, freeze the cookies in an airtight container for 3-6 months.
  • Freezing the Dough:  To make the dough in advance, wrap the disks of dough in plastic wrap, label them, and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for 3-6 months.  Frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator.  Then take the dough out of the fridge about 1 hour before you're ready to roll out the dough.  It should still be cool to the touch when you roll it out, but pliable enough to roll without too much difficulty.
Keyword Sugar Cookies, Vanilla Bean
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