Holiday baking doesn’t have to be time consuming! With this one cookie dough, you can make three types of cookies – classic sugar, jammy dodgers, and chocolate sugar.
Ingredients for Basic Dough
– 1 1/2 cups of softened butter
– 2 cups of white sugar
– 4 eggs
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 5 cups all-purpose flour
– 2 tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp salt
– 3 T cocoa powder
– 3 T jam
– 1 egg white
– 1 T water
– 3 T sugar
Instructions for Dough
– Cream together butter and sugar.
– Beat in eggs and vanilla.
– Stir in dry ingredients.
– Separate into three equal balls of dough.
– Cover and chill two portions of dough for one hour (overnight is even better).
– Knead three tablespoons of cocoa powder into the third, until it takes on a uniform light brown color.
– Cover and chill chocolate dough for at least one hour.
Making Cookies
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
– Remove dough from refrigerator one small portion at a time. The goal is to work with it cold.
For Sugar and Chocolate Sugar:
– Roll out on floured surface until roughly 1/2 inch thick.
– Use cookie cutters and arrange 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
– Bake for 6-8 minutes. If you like your cookies a bit crispy, watch for a slight browning around the edges.
– Allow to cool completely and remove with a flat metal spatula.
For Jammy Dodgers:
– Roll out dough on floured surface until 1/4 inch thick.
– Use a large cookie cutter to create an even number of shapes.
– Use a smaller cutter to create a “window” in half of the shapes (I used the top of a champagne flute).
– Spread your favorite jam over the intact shapes, avoiding the edges.
– Lay the dough shapes with window cutouts on top of the jam.
– Lightly press edges.
– Create egg wash by combining egg white and water, brush on top of cookies.
– Lightly sprinkle sugar on top.
– Bake for 8-10 minutes.
– Allow to cool completely before removing carefully with flat metal spatula.
Frosting
For Lemon Frosting (perfect for classic sugar)
– Dump 1 cup confectioners sugar in a small bowl.
– Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until consistency is fluid, but not watery.
– Stir in 1 tsp lemon juice.
– Add food coloring of your choice.
Almond Frosting (perfect for chocolate sugar)
– Dump 1 cup confectioners sugar in a small bowl.
– Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until consistency is fluid, but not watery.
– Stir in 1 teaspoon almond extract.
– Color with desired food coloring.
Chocolate Almond Frosting
– Dump 1 cup confectioners sugar in a small bowl.
– Stir in 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.
– Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until consistency is fluid, but not watery.
– Stir in 1 teaspoon almond extract.