Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

I used this recipe for the cookie, and while I reallllly wanted to try her frosting recipe as well because I don’t like royal icing so much, I needed an icing that would harden up enough so I could stack the cookies without them getting stuck together (since I didn’t feel like walking a mile to my Spanish conversation class carrying a sheet pan of cookies all in a single layer). So, I compromised and used a recipe for royal icing but added a whole block of cream cheese and replaced some of the water with lemon and vanilla extracts. I was fairly happy with the results, because I had a soft, chewy cookie and a not-to-sickly-sweet-doesn’t-just-taste-like-an-entire-bag-of-powdered-sugar icing that while a little soft, was still okay for lightly layering them together in a ziploc bag and carrying them to my class.  So I used this recipe for the icing, but I made the below adjustments and I did not thin it out to ‘flood’ the cookies since I wanted a thicker consistency (so follow up until step 8. I outlined the cookies and then spread icing over the cookie with a small offset spatula.)

16 oz powdered sugar

3 Tbsp meringue powder (powdered egg whites)

4 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract (or however much you prefer to make it tasty)

1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, softened to room temperature

Combine all of the ingredients, except the cream cheese, in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed until thick and glossy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the cream cheese until thoroughly incorporated. Divide up the icing into different bowls and add gel food coloring to get the desired colors.