Baby Elephant Sugar Cookies

8:00 AM

BRITTANY'S BABY SHOWER SUGAR COOKIES

I had a few requests for a cookie tutorial when I posted these little cuties on Snapchat and Instagram, so I thought I would share the recipe and inside scoop with you!

Baking is one of my favorite things to do so when my M-I-L asked if I would make cookies for my S-I-L's baby shower, I was happy to help! Plus... These cookies are Brit's (My S-I-L) favorite. She loves them so much, that she asked for them to be on each napkin at her wedding a few years ago. Such a huge compliment! (Peep those cutie little fall leaves here!-- Warning: the photo quality is something we should all try to disregard... the struggle guys, the struggle).

I snagged these cutie little elephant cutters here, and will link them below for you guys along with the gifties I got for my sweet nephew to be! The possibilities are endless with the shapes and colors for this recipe. Always a crowd pleaser!

Cut Out Sugar Cookies-

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
2½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Zest of half a lemon (or the zest of a whole lemon, if you love lemon)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

Instructions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place a sheet of parchment on your sheet pan
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.
Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and lemon zest until blended.
Mix in the flour and salt on low speed just until incorporated. Form the dough into a ball and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 1-2 hours.

(recipe adapted from Annies Eats)

Icing Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Wilton meringue powder
4 cups confectioners sugar
5 Tbsp warm water
Wilton gel food coloring
Toothpicks

Icing Instructions:

Combine all ingredients until smooth
Separate into glass containers and color with Wilton gel food coloring using a toothpick to portion out the color
For these, I outlined the elephant and immediately flooded each cookie
I then went back in after an hour or so (to give the icing time to harden) and piped on a little ear, a little eye, and a few water droplets at the end of it's trunk
I then used a very slightly damp finger and gently touched those pointy edges from the piping tip to smooth the icing down
let sit uncovered until totally cured