One of my favourite and most thoughtful things to gift during Christmas are baked goods. Who doesn’t love homemade baked goodies?  Whether you are sending them in the mail or delivering them in person, it’s a lovely way to spread a little Christmas cheer during this time of year.

This recipe is a classic sugar cookie recipe but with the addition of holiday spices including nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla and orange. It’s a fun way to update this simple but delicious recipe. We were able to source all our ingredients at our local Bulk Barn, this place is baking and entertaining heaven. Bulk Barn is new to us, but we are already the biggest fans. They have every sprinkle colour you can imagine, gel colourings for creating beautiful royal icing, as well as all the ingredients to make your cookie dough. Cookie cutters and piping bags, don’t worry they have it all!!

I love the idea of decorating cookies and gifting them to neighbours family and friends. This year I thought it would be fun to include a few cookies that weren’t decorated along with the icing all ready in the piping bags tied off with a pretty ribbon and festive sprinkles. Together packaged in a wooden box. I love that they can decorate their own cookies, making it extra thoughtful. The neighbourhood kids will love the idea. Why not include the recipe and a memorable cookie cutter too.

P.S.: You can all the ribbon over at my favourite Etsy shop here. 

Holiday Spice Sugar Cookies
Prep time: 20 minutes
Inactive time: 2 hours
Bake time: 10-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie
Makes: 8-12 medium sized cut out cookies

Ingredients
1 cup (250 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (175 mL) sugar
¼ cup (60mL) light brown sugar
1 large free range egg at room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds removed or 2 teaspoons(10 mL) vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon(1 mL) freshly ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon (2 mL) ground cardamom
½ teaspoon (2 mL) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (5 mL) orange zest
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon (2 mL) salt
½ teaspoon (2 mL) baking powder

In your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars on high for 3 minutes.

1. 1. Add in the egg and mix well, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is being properly incorporated.
2. 2. Add in the seeds from the vanilla bean, nutmeg, cardamom and orange zest, mix.
3. 3. Sift all the dry ingredients together, add into the mixer and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
4. 4. Bring the dough together with your hands.
5. 5. Divide the dough into two equal parts, flatten the dough to ½ inch thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap.
6. 6. Chill for 2-3 hours or overnight.
7. 7. Preheat the over tn 350 °F (180° C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. 8. Remove the dough from fridge.
9. 9. Working with one disk at a time on a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to ⅛ inch thick (I like to roll out the dough on parchment paper).Cut out desired shapes and transfer onto the prepared baking sheet spacing a  ½ inch between cookies.
10. 10. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until slightly golden brown on around the edges
11. Remove rom the oven and let cool slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely before icing

Note: Keep like sizes together for even baking times, reduce baking times for smaller cookies.

Royal Icing (makes 6 cups)
¼ cup + ½ Tablespoon (67.5 mL ) meringue powder
6 cups (1.5 L )  sifted icing sugar
⅓ cup (75 mL) water
Gel food colouring – we used white, ivory and gold luster dust for the light coloured icing
Violet, dusty pink, chocolate brown and white for the muted purple/taupe colour.

Place everything in your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat until light and fluffy around 6 minutes,  add more water as needed. Always keep covered when not in use.

Colour as desired adding more water if needed to thin out the icing for “flooding” the cookies.

Let iced cookies dry completely before packing up.

For the cookie Box
Small wooden box 12×12
Wooden dividers
Assorted sprinkles
Cookie Cutters
Disposable small pastry bags
Ribbon

Note* These cookies will freeze baked or unbaked without the icing. Do not put iced cookies in the freezer. These cookies will keep fresh in a sealed container for up 4 days. 

We hope this inspires you to create one of these cookie boxes this season! Merry Christmas Baking! If you are heading to Bulk Barn we have a special offer for you, just click this link.
This post was sponsored by Bulk Barn all opinions are my own