Since the weather was a bit chilly today (snowy to be exact:), the kids and I made some almond flavored sugar cookies. Once upon a time, I didn’t think I was a fan of almond flavoring…..but let me be the first to say I am a huge fan! These cookies are so good….the flavor is so perfect in every way!

Let’s start by making the almond sugar cookie dough!

Ingredients for the cookies:

• 1 cup of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• 3 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder (or leave it out so the cookies don’t spread)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Ingredients for the icing (optional):

• 1/4 cup of cold water
• 3 Tablespoons of meringue powder
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• food coloring, if desired

Directions:

• Using your mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, vanilla, and almond extract.
• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
• Slowly add the flour mixture into the egg mixture until completely combined.
• Dough will be sticky.
• Divide the dough into half and place each piece onto a sheet of parchment paper.
• Lay another piece of parchment paper on top of each piece of dough.
• Use your rolling pin to roll out the dough to 1/4 inch between the two sheets of parchment.  This keeps it from sticking to your rolling pin.
• Place rolled out dough into the fridge until well chilled. Around 30 minutes to an hour.
• Use cookie cutters to cut our desired shapes. Re-roll the scraps and chill again before cutting more cookies. Time consuming part here, I know!
• Bake cookies at 350 for about 9 minutes.
• Cool completely before decorating.

If you want to make the royal icing to decorate:

• In a bowl, combine the water and meringue powder. Use a whisk to mix until it is foamy. Add in the powdered sugar. Pipe or drizzle the icing onto cooled cookies! I thickened a small amount of the icing and used a decorating bag and tip to outline each cookie. I put the remaining icing in some cheap condiment bottles I found at Walmart. The kids did the “flood” icing for all of the cookies. They had a blast.

*I found this recipe in a Taste Of Home magazine from several years back. It’s originally from Paula Deen. I just changed a few little things to suit me:)

Enjoy some pictures of my day making cookies with my kiddos!