Makes: 12
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients
Dough
1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon Club House Cream of Tartar
½ teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon Club House Ground Cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅔ cup (130 grams) light brown sugar
6 tablespoons (84 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg yolk
Cinnamon coating
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Club House Ground Cinnamon
Royal icing
4 cups (480 g) icing sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
5 to 8 tablespoons water
Club House Yellow food colouring
Club House Red food colouring
Club House Green food colouring
Club House Blue food colouring
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda, and table salt. Set aside. Cream the light brown sugar and butter together with an electric hand mixer on high until mixture turns pale and no large spots of butter remain, about 1 minute.
3. Beat oil and egg yolk into the sugar and butter until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Any longer and the cookies’ texture could become cakey. Add flour mixture to the sugar and butter mixture and beat on low, stopping as soon as no dry spots remain.
You should be able to roll a piece of dough easily into a ball without it sticking to your hands. Adjust with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if it seems to dry, or 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour if it’s sticking.
4. To make the cinnamon coating: Whisk the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
5. Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and toss in the cinnamon mixture. Place on a baking tray and repeat with the rest of the dough, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each cookie with no more than 6 cookies on each baking tray so they have room to spread.
6. Use the bottom of a glass or jar to flatten the balls slightly into ½-inch-thick rounds.
Bake on the middle oven rack until the edges of the cookies are just starting to turn golden brown and the middles are puffy but still look a little underbaked (this is key to the cookies’ chewy texture), about 7 to 10 minutes. Rotate halfway through baking.
7. When the cookies are done, remove the tray from the oven and lift one side up about 4 inches, then let it drop. This will flatten the centre of the cookies and create a level surface for decorating. Repeat with the other side of the baking tray, and then again with the second tray. Let the cookies cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to move them; otherwise, they’ll fall apart.
9. To make the royal icing: Sift the icing sugar if clumpy and beat it with the meringue powder, and 5 tablespoons of water with electric hand beaters on low until everything is incorporated, about 1 minute. Turn beaters to high and continue beating for 1 minute more. Test the consistency of your icing by lifting a bit out with a spoon and dripping it back down into the bowl. It should take the drip 5 to 10 seconds to settle back into the icing and disappear. If it takes less time, your icing is too thin and you need to add more icing sugar. Any more time and it’s too thick, so adjust with a little water — a teaspoon at a time.
10. Transfer ¼ cup icing into a small bowl and colour it orange with red and yellow food colouring until you get the desired colour. Transfer ¼ cup icing to another small bowl and colour it dark purple with blue, red, and green food colouring, adjusting to the desired colour. Set a damp paper towel over each of the small bowls so the icing doesn’t form a crust. Dye the remaining icing yellow using 1 drop of red food colouring and enough yellow until you get the desired colour.
11. Fit a piping bag with a #10 tip and fill it with the yellow icing. Pipe a circle around the outside of a cookie, then fill the centre in. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Fit 2 piping bags with #4 tips and fill the first bag with orange icing and the second bag with purple icing. Pipe beaks, feet, and eyes onto the cookies.
12. Let the icing dry at least 30 minutes before serving, and 6–8 hours to completely set and harden.
