New Year's Bellini Cookies

We made it! Through the holidays and our sanity and emotional well being are still intact! Time to celebrate, and by celebrate I mean with a lil bit of booze… in flavor mostly, but booze none the less! Christmas had got my cookie juices flowing and my sister and I became obsessed with sugar cookie decorating. Who knew royal icing can be so much fun!

Now, cookie decorating is hard! It requires a lot of patience, time and imagination. I’m not necessarily good at any of those things but I love the results, so I’m willing to go a little berserk to get a more than adorable looking cookie! Plus its a bit relaxing. Spending a few minutes focused on one thing can take your mind away from all the other stresses in a mom’s life… I.e. kids, parents, school activities, homework help, why you haven’t decided to volunteer at your kids school but are instead decorating cookies at home…? Maybe that ones just me, but you know what I mean. This is the whole adult coloring book craze, but once your done coloring, you get to eat it! Where do you sign up? Right here!

I decided to flavor these cookies with champagne… not the actual kind since I’m saving that to get my drink on once the kids are in bed. For the cookies I decided to use Wilton’s Tasteology extracts. I bought the whole set on Amazon and was a bit thrilled to see that it came with so many flavors you can mix together! So when I saw that they had a peach extract, I turned this cookie in a Peach Bellini cookie! Because the only thing better than champagne is a Bellini!

This sugar cookie recipe is one that I like using for everything. I’ve added lemon to it for my Summer Lemon Sugar Cookies. And I’ve added plain vanilla to it for simple Christmas sugar cookies. They’re buttery and crisp with just the right amount of give. The flavor is light and pairs perfectly with a glass of bubbly or a tea, depending on your preference. As for me… I’ll be having the bubbly! Happy 2019 everyone!

New Year's Bellini Cookies

Yields approx 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookie

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

• 1 egg

• 5 drops champagne extract (I used Wilton Tasteology)

• 5 drops peach extract (I used Wilton Tasteology)

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour 

• pinch of salt

For the Royal Icing

• 2 Cups Powdered sugar

• 3 tbsp Meringue powder

• 5 tbsp Water

• 5 drops Champagne extract

• optional: Sugar pearls and sparkling sugar to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 330F degrees. 

2. Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, about 1 minute. 

3. Mix in the egg, champagne extract until just combined. 

4. Mix in the flour 1 cup at a time until all flour is combined.

5. Turn dough out on to a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap up and place in the fridge until ready to use. Dough can be rolled out right away if your in a pinch. 

6. Place a piece of parchment paper down on the counter top. Roll dough out on the parchment paper, using minimal flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking. 

7. Cut dough out to the desired shapes. Bake for 12-16 minutes until just barely brown around the edge.

8. To make the royal icing, combine all the ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Slowly beat the ingredients together until combined, then turn it up to medium and beat for another 7-8 minutes or until icing is thick and shiny. Divide the icing into 2 large measuring cups. Add in gold food coloring into one measuring cup and mix until combined. Then add in water, 1 tbsp at a time until it resembles toothpaste- for outlining, or runny tooth paste for a more in between texture that I like to use to both outline and flood.