I have discovered I like holidays a lot more when I get to decorate a sugar cookies for them. These were for St. Patricks day.

Rainbows are pretty easy to make, you just need, two round cutters of different sizes, a knife, sugar cookie dough and royal icing.

Roll out the dough, I like 1/4 inch thick, use the larger cutter to cut a circle, pull it away from the dough. Then use the smaller cutter to cut out the center. You can use this for your gold doubloons. Then take your knife and cut the “tire” in half and you’ve got your rainbow.

I bake my cookies in a convection oven at 350 for 6 minutes. If you are at home with a still oven (an oven without a fan inside to circulate the air) then it would probably take 8-12 minutes at 350. I always rotate everything I bake half way though.

Royal icing is very simple, eggs whites, sifted powdered sugar and a little vanilla extract. I think the recipe is:

3 egg whites
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teasp. vanilla extract

I have a book of recipes at work that I use all the time so I don’t like to bring it home then forget it. Put the whites in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. I recommend a stand mixer or hand mixer, this is hard to whisk by hand. Whisk the whites until frothy then mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Whisk until it is white and shiny. I often add a little more egg white or some water to thin out the icing so that it is easier to use. I do large batches so I need to make sure my hands aren’t going to get too worn out.

To add color to the icing I prefer the Wilton gel colors, they don’t add anymore liquid to your icing so it wont get too thin after you make it how you prefer. They are definitely more expensive then the four pack of liquid food coloring you can get at the grocery store but the colors are more vibrant and a little goes a long way. I like to wait until I get a 50% off one item coupon to Michaels or A.C.Moore and then stock up and buy the 12 color pack.

***Food Coloring Stains!****
(I wear gloves and an apron that I don’t love)

You can spread on the color anyway that you like, pipe it, spread it on with a spatula or thin it out enough to dip the cookies. The whole point of sugar cookies is to have fun so make sure that you do.

I am also recently addicted to shimmer dust! It is in most baking isles that have fondant equipment. Makes everything sparkle and shine. Wicked cool.