Best Penguin Slice And Bake Cookies Recipes

BAKE AND SLICE THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
• Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
• Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and flatten into a disk. Divide into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion into a cylinder about 10 inches long and 1-inch wide. Transfer the cylinders to the prepared baking sheets. Lightly press the tops of the cylinders with your fingers to flatten.
• Press the handle of wooden spoon with a 1/2-inch thick handle into the center of each cylinder to create a long trough about 1/2-inch deep, leaving a small border all around. (The cylinders will spread to about 1 1/2 inches wide.) (See Cook's Note.)
• Put the raspberry jam in a small piping bag and pipe it into the indentations of 2 of the cylinders. Repeat with the apricot jam and the remaining 2 cylinders.
• Bake until the edges of the cylinders are golden, 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom halfway through. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks to cool, about 10 minutes.
• Carefully transfer each cylinder to a cutting board and cut them on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces. Transfer the cookies to the wire rack and cool completely.

SANTA SLICE-AND-BAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookie dough: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
• Add the butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed, scraping down the bowl at least once, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and 1 egg and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and continue to beat for 30 seconds.
• Remove 1/3 cup of the dough to a small bowl. Add about 1/4 teaspoon black food coloring and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly firm, about 30 minutes.
• Add about 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring to the dough remaining in the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute, scraping down the bowl at least once. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly firm, about 30 minutes.
• Place the red dough on a lightly floured clean work surface and roll it into a 7-inch log with a 2-inch diameter. Wrap with plastic wrap and place back in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Place the black dough on a lightly floured clean work surface and roll or flatten it into a 7-by-2-inch rectangle, 1/4-inch thick. Wrap with plastic wrap and place on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Whisk together the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl for the egg wash.
• Remove both doughs from the refrigerator. Slice the red log in half lengthwise. Lightly brush the flat end of one half with egg wash. Place the black dough onto it to adhere. Lightly brush the flat end of the other red half with egg wash and place it on top of the black dough. (If the dough softens and becomes difficult to work with, simply place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.) Wrap the log with plastic wrap and lightly roll it back and forth to round out the sides. Refrigerate the log for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Trim about 1/4 inch from each end of the log to reveal an even and flat Santa. Cut the log into 24 equal slices that are about 1/4-inch thick. Make sure to clean the knife after each slice for a clean cut so the colors won't bleed on each other. (If the log softens and becomes difficult to work with, simply place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.)
• Arrange 12 cookies evenly on each prepared baking sheet. Bake until the edges are lightly golden, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, 14 to 17 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.
• For the royal icing: Add the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 1 tablespoon water to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on high for 1 minute, scraping down the sides as needed. If the icing is too thick, add 1 more teaspoon of water and beat until combined. Transfer to a small pastry bag fitted with a small round tip (size 4).
• Pipe a white collar on the top half of the cookie. Sprinkle it with white sprinkles. Pipe buttons on the red coat and the black belt. Pipe a square buckle in the middle of the black belt.

SLICE-AND-BAKE DREIDEL COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Combine the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the egg and vanilla and almond extracts until just incorporated. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• Remove two-thirds of the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Add the food coloring to the dough in the mixer and mix on low speed until no streaks remain. Wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc about 1/2 inch thick; freeze for 20 minutes.
• Barely roll out the blue dough on a lightly floured surface just until even. Dip a 1 3/4-inch dreidel cookie cutter in flour and stamp out as many cookies as possible, rerolling the scraps, until no blue dough remains (if the dough gets too soft, return it to the freezer). Brush the tops of the dreidels with water and stack them on top of each other, pressing lightly to adhere and lining them up perfectly. Make 3 or 4 stacks so that they don't fall over. Transfer the stacks to a plate and freeze for 10 minutes.
• Remove the stacks from the freezer and lay them on their sides. Brush the adjoining ends of each stack with water and press them together, creating one long dreidel-shaped stack for the center of the cookies.
• Roll one-quarter of the uncolored dough into a log the length of the dreidel stack, with a 1-inch diameter, then cut it in half lengthwise. Brush each half with water and press into the space on either side along the dreidel handle. Roll out a skinnier log of uncolored dough the length of the dreidel stack, brush with water and place it along the top of the dreidel handle, pressing to connect it to the first two strips of uncolored dough. Freeze until all the pieces stick together and the dough is very firm, about 5 minutes.
• Remove the stack from the freezer and press the remaining uncolored dough around the sides, rolling the log a bit to round out the shape, brushing with water if needed to adhere. Return to the freezer for 5 minutes.
• Pour the sprinkles into a shallow bowl or plate long enough to hold the log of dough.
• Remove the dough from the freezer, brush with water, then roll in the sprinkles, pressing to adhere if necessary. Freeze for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment.
• Transfer the frozen dough log to a cutting board and use a sharp knife to slice it 1/4 inch thick. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake, rotating halfway through, until just starting to brown on the bottom, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Microwave the white chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl at 70% power, stirring every 10 seconds, until melted, about 30 seconds total. Transfer to a piping bag and cut off the very tip to pipe a thin line of white chocolate.
• Pipe one of the following letters from the Hebrew alphabet on the dreidels: נ‎ (nun), ג‎ (gimel), ה‎ (hei) and ש‎ (shin). Let sit at room temperature until the chocolate sets, 20 to 30 minutes.