Christmas Cookies with Royal Icing

"Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas"……which means NOW is the perfect excuse to rustle up some yummy Christmas cookies!!

These cookies are flavoured with fab seasonal spices, including Ginger, Cinnamon and Nutmeg.

My recipe makes approx. 24 cookies (depending on the size of your cookie cutters) So, you can adjust the amount of ingredients required for the number of cookies needed.

(Example ~ halve the ingredients for 12 cookies, or double the ingredients for larger batches)

Everyone loves to make these cookies as they are fun to decorate, they taste delicious, AND it gets everyone into the festive spirit!


What you will need ~

  • A Large mixing bowl
  • A small bowl
  • Electric whisk
  • Sieve 
  • Spatula
  • Baking tray
  • Parchment paper
  • Cling film
  • Rolling pin
  • Cookie cutters in the shape of snowflakes
  • Piping bags
  • Piping nozzles
  • Edible food colouring (blue, white)
  • Sprinkles for additional affects


Ingredients ~ (Makes approx. 24 cookies)

  • 340g Plain Flour
  • 115g Soft unsalted Butter
  • 160g Light brown sugar
  • 1 Medium Free range egg (because we love chickens)
  • 70g Golden syrup
  • 1/2tsp Nutmeg
  • 1tsp Cinnamon,
  • 1tsp Ground Ginger
  • 1tsp Baking powder

Method ~

  • Using an electric whisk, cream together the butter and brown sugar in your large mixing bowl.
  • In a separate small bowl pour in your golden syrup and egg and mix well.
  • Pour this mixture into your large bowl and combine together with your creamed butter and sugar.
  • Sift in your flour, along with the baking powder, and spices, and mix again until it starts to form a dough.
  • Lightly flour your worktop, and work the dough gently. If the dough is still quite sticky, add more flour.
  • Form the dough into a rough square shape and wrap in cling film. Leave the dough to rest in your fridge for around an hour. This helps the gluten to relax and will help prevent spreading.
  • Take the dough out of the fridge after an hour.
  • Again, lightly dust your worktop with flour and roll out the dough using your rolling pin to around 4 millimetres in thickness.
  • Dust your cookie cutters with flour and cut out your shapes.
  • Try and space them out as close together so you don't waste any dough. 
  • Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  • Place the cut outs onto the tray and pop them back into the fridge for another half an hour. By doing this, you will be baking the cookies from chilled, and this will help to prevent them from spreading during the bake.
  • Bake the cookies for 10 minutes at 170 degrees (until lightly golden around the edges)
  • Leave the cookies to cool completely before decorating.

For the icing:

Ingredients ~

  • 500 gm of Icing Sugar
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
  • Vanilla Extract

Method ~

  • Sift in your icing sugar into a bowl to ensure there are no lumps remaining.
  • Add in the cream of tartar and mix gently with a spatula
  • Pop in your 3 egg whites and and stir until they start to combine.
  • Use an electric mixer and beat the mixture on a low speed for 2 minutes,
  • Add in your vanilla extract and mix again until the icing is nice and smooth
  • Add in the a small amount white food colouring to make the icing a bright white colour
  • Mix again at the medium speed for 2 minutes until silky smooth and white.
  • Separate the icing into mixing bowls and add other food colours to make up your colours.
  • Put the coloured mixture into individual piping bags.
  • Add more icing sugar to make the mixture thicker, or add a drop of water to make it thinner.
  • Snip the end of the bag and begin to decorate the cookies.
  • Add sprinkles to enhance the effects on your Christmas Cookies.

Ho, Ho, Hope you enjoy them! :)

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