We are celebrating today! In just a few weeks, my friend Amy and her husband will be welcoming a new baby girl into their lives. You probably know Amy – she’s the talent behind one of my favorite blogs, Sing For Your Supper.
She roots for the Aggies. But we still get a long 🙂
If you don’t know Amy, you should go say hi. And then bookmark her Hawaiian Pork Chops with Pineapple-Cilantro Quinoa. Because it’s one of my favorites!
When Kelsey asked if I’d like to participate in a virtual shower for Amy, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. Little Aggie onesie cookies decked out in maroon & white royal icing. Perfect for the expectant mom-to-be Aggie fan.
Apple a Day and Sing for Your Supper have the full shower menu so head over and check out all of the super sweet (literally!) goodness that our friends made to celebrate. Congratulations, Amy & Joel! And Amy – I hope you giggle at these as much as I did 🙂
Texas A&M Onesie Cookies
Buttery, sugary shortbread onesie cookies - perfect for the expectant Aggie mom-to-be.
Ingredients
- For the cookies:
- 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 4 cups (20 oz) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- For the royal icing:
- 4 Tbsp meringue powder
- scant 1/2 cup water (I remove 2 tsp from the 1/2 cup)
- 1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp light corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- For decorating:
- Pastry bag
- Plastic wrap
- Coupler
- Tip 1 - outlining
- Tip 2 - white details
- Squeeze bottle for flood icing
- Burgundy (Americolor gel paste)
- Black (Americolor gel paste)
Instructions
- To make the cookies, cream the butter and powdered sugar together on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy. If you start with cold butter like I do, 3-4 minutes.
- Reduce speed to low and add the extracts.
- Add flour and baking powder, and mix on medium just until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated.
- Turn dough out onto plastic wrap, shape into a disc, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out your dough (it's easier for me to divide it into 3 or 4 portions first) to ~1/3 inch thickness.
- Cut shapes with a floured cookie cutter, reflouring between each cookie.
- Lightly knead the scraps and re-roll until you run out of dough or get the number of cookies that you need. Leftover dough can be refrigerated a week or frozen for several months.
- Transfer cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer while the oven is preheating.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Bake 10-12 minutes, until the cookies just begin to brown around the edges.
- Let cool completely before decorating.
- To make the royal icing, place the water and meringue powder in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low 2-3 minutes until foamy.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until just combined.
- Add the corn syrup and extract and then increase the speed to medium-high for ~5 minutes, until your frosting holds a stiff peak.
- Cover the bowl with a damp towel when not in use or transfer the icing to an airtight bowl and press plastic wrap onto the surface of the icing to keep it from crusting.
- Transfer the icing to a bowl (reserving 1/2 cup of white frosting for the shirt details) and tint it with quite a bit of burgundy gel paste (I probably used 2 tsp) and then mix in black by the 2-3 drops until you're happy with your shade of Aggie Maroon
- Outline the cookies with maroon using a pastry bag and the smallest round tip you have (I use a Wilton 1 or 2) and let dry (I wait about 30 minutes before flooding).
- Squeeze any excess back into the maroon bowl and add water 1 tsp at a time until the frosting is thin enough that when you pick up your spoon and the icing drizzles back into the bowl, it disappears within 10 seconds.
- Transfer this 'flood icing' to a squeeze bottle and squeeze enough frosting to cover about 3/4 of the cookie surface.
- Use a toothpick to drag the icing to the edge of the cookie outline.
- Let dry (about an hour) and then pipe the details on using the reserved white frosting with a small round tip (I used a Wilton 3).
Notes
Yields: ~3 dozen cookies (depends on size of your cookie cutter)