Prep Time: 1 hr Serves: 15 Total Time: 3 hrs
Cookie Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powder sugar
2 cups vegetable shortening
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 large egg beaten
3 1/3 cups cake flour
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Icing Ingredients
2 pounds confectioners sugar (this is for 5 cups of icing, so feel free to cut in half)
1/4 cup meringue powder
2/3 cup water (more if needed)
Directions
1. Mix together sugars and shortening with an electric mixer for 3 minutes
2. Add vanilla and egg, mixing to combine
3. Place dry ingredients in a new bowl and stir
4. Add dry ingredients slowly to the sugar and shortening
5. Mix until just blended
6. Roll out cookie dough until dough is 1/2 inch thick
7. Cut out ugly sweater cookies using your ugly sweater cookie cutter. Here’s the one I used!
8. Place unbaked cookies in ziplock bag, separating each layer of cookies with parchment paper. Keep in freezer until you are ready to bake (for up to two months, but at least 30 minutes to make sure cookies are firm)
9. Preheat oven to 375* and bake for 9 minutes, making sure to rotate cookie sheet halfway through.
10. Let cookie cool before you begin icing!
11. Now that your cookies have cooled the fun can begin! Mix together icing ingredients and separate into two or three bowls, depending on how many colors of icing you would like.
12. Add food coloring until you have reached your desired color, and remember to leave one bowl of white for white sweaters!
13. For the menorahs and sweater hems I used a set of icing tubes like this plus a white tube. I also used some sanding sugar as a layer over my white menorah and icing.
14. If you want to ice your cookies in advance, simply let the icing dry overnight and put them back into your freezer bags with each cookie layer separated by parchment paper.
Wannabe Bubbie 