Spiced Sugar Cookies

Spiced sugar cookies are so beautiful and delicious! The perfect fall cookie, these spiced sugar cookie cutouts have just a hint of fall spice and couldn’t be easier to make. If you’re looking for one, forever sugar cookie cutout recipe, this is it.

P and I have done a lot of baking over the last month. She’s had many days off from school due to holidays, and so we used some of that time to test out recipes. We typically save cutout sugar cookies for Christmas time, but I found these cute fall cookie cutters and just had to use them. I wanted to change up the typical sugar cookie flavor, so I turned these into spiced sugar cookies.

My recipe is adapted from In Katrina’s Kitchen’s classic sugar cookie recipe. These are easy to make and roll out like a dream. They require no chilling, making the dough super easy to work with. They also do not spread in the oven. Spiced sugar cookies are perfect for little kitchen helpers too since the dough is super resilient. P was able to basically make these cookies on her own, with just a little guidance.

I highly recommend a rolling pin with measurement rings for making sugar cookie cutouts. It helps to easily roll out the dough to be a uniform thickness, which makes for better, even baking and prettier cookies.

I love these spiced sugar cookies for Halloween, for Thanksgiving, or really any fall gathering. They’re pretty, they’re fun and they’re delicious. Not too spiced. Not crispy but not too soft. Just about the perfect sugar cookie.

I used these fun mini leaf cookie cutters for the cookies above. Bonus use: for cheese on your fall cheeseboard!

Some notes for baking spiced sugar cookies: I like to underbake my cookies just slightly, leaning on the lower side of the suggested baking time. It involves a lot of restraint to take them out of the oven just a moment too soon, but this is the key to perfectly soft cookies. They will continue cooking slightly on the baking sheet once removed from the oven, and then they are perfect.

Oh and let’s talk about the sugar glaze. I’ve never made or worked with royal icing and while it’s on my list to learn someday, it wasn’t going to be right now. I wanted something super simple that could be made quickly and not require 8 different piping bags. Enter the sugar cookie glaze. The glaze is inspired by Rick Martinez’s Tie Dye Cookies. We’ve made his glaze for Christmas cookies, but I wanted to change it up a bit for our spiced sugar cookies. This glaze comes together in seconds with just a whisk. I use good food coloring gels to achieve such beautiful color.

For the glaze technique, I poured the glaze onto disposable plate and just dipped the face of the cookie into the glaze, then let it set. To make a marbled look, you can dip half the cookie in one color, the other half in another color, and use a toothpick to swirl together.

You can also gently spoon the glaze on top. It’s imperfect but in a sweet, rustic sort of way. This is super easy for kids to do and decorate too. Overall, I was so surprisingly thrilled with how the glaze turned out. Super easy to make, set up nicely and tasted great!

Overall, I’m just so pleased with these spiced sugar cookies. Just a hint of spice and beautiful cutout cookies that were as simple as it gets. I hope you give them a try. If you do, would you drop me a line a let me know?

Yield: 18 - 24

Author: Rachel Humiston

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Spiced Sugar Cookies

Spiced sugar cookies are beautiful and delicious! The perfect fall cookie, these spiced sugar cookie cutouts have just a hint of fall spice and couldn’t be easier to make. If you’re looking for one, forever sugar cookie cutout recipe, this is it.

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 8 MinTotal time: 38 Min

Ingredients

Spiced Sugar Cookies

• 1 C unsalted butter, slightly softened but not soft
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3 C all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves

Sugar Glaze

• 1 C confectioners' sugar
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• food coloring, preferably gel
• Note: you will need 1 recipe per color you plan to use

Instructions

Spiced Sugar Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds.
4. Pour in the granulated sugar and cream together for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract.
6. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
7. Add the dry ingredients into the stand mixer in small batches, mixing until just combined after each addition.
8. Finish mixing with a rubber spatula until all flour is incorporated, but do not overmix.
9. Separate the dough into 2 batches.
10. Roll out the first batch onto a well-floured board or countertop, about ¼” thick.
11. Using cookie cutters, cut out your cookies.
12. You may reroll the scraps one time and continue cutting out cookies.
13. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
14. Bake for 6 – 8 minutes.
15. Let cool slightly and move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
16. Repeat with second batch of dough.

Sugar Glaze

1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, milk, vanilla and salt.
2. Add food coloring gel, as desired.
3. Pour onto disposable plastic plate.
4. Dip cookies face down into glaze until evenly coated.
5. Let rest on parchment paper until glaze is set.