Cut-Out Coffee Cup Cookies

Cookies:

1. To a large bowl, add the flour, baking, soda, salt, and whisk to combine; set aside.
2. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or large mixing bowl and handheld electric mixer, add the butter, sugar, and beat on high speed to cream (mix) them together, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the egg, optional lemon zest, vanilla, and beat to incorporate.
4. Add the flour mixture and beat until a smooth dough forms; don't overmix.
5. Divide the dough in two equal portions, pat into two balls, wrap each tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Rolling and Cutting Out:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray, or line with Silpat mats; set aside.
2. On a lightly floured surface like a clean countertop, roll out the dough in a rough circle to ¼-inch thickness.
3. Cut out cookies using a coffee mug cookie cutter and transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
4. Ball up excess dough, re-roll it, cut out additional cookies, and transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until lightly golden browned around the edges. Start check at 8 minutes since all ovens bake differently. Tip - Bake one sheet of cookies at a time, on the center oven rack, rotating baking sheet once midway though baking for optimal results. Keep other cookie sheet in the fridge while waiting to bake if possible as cold dough bakes better.
6. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets momentarily until they can be tranfserred to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cool, make the icing.

Meringue Powder Royal Icing:

1. To a large bowl, add the confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and beat with a handheld electric mixer until combined.* (See Notes for meringue powder info)
2. Gradually add the WARM water and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add more sugar or water to achieve the proper consistency. Tip - The proper consistency for the icing is when you lift the beaters out of it, and the ribbon of icing that falls into the bowl remains on the surface of the icing for 2 to 3 seconds, and then disappears.
3. Tint ¾ of the icing with red food coloring gel. You will need about 1/8 teaspoon. I use Wilton Christmas Red Gel Color because it doesn't thin out the icing like non-gel food coloring and the shape of red is the perfect holiday color.
4. Transfer the red and the white icing into two separate pastry bags and get ready to use it immediately. Don't let it sit.

Decorating:

1. Use a #8 tip for outlining and filling the mug part of the cookie and a #32 tip for filling in the cream part. Tip - Wilton tips numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 work as well in place of the #8 tip.
2. Begin decorating your least favorite or least pretty looking cookies first. Outline the mug part of the cookie with red icing, then fill it in with red. Optional Tip - Sprinkle some coarse sugar over the red part of the mug before the icing sets up to give a bit more visual pop.
3. Fill in the cream part on the top of the mug with the white icing.
4. Draw a white snowflake in the center of the red mug portion. 
5. Optionally draw a thin horizontal line with thick caramel sauce between the mug and cream part. Trader Joe's or my Best and Easiest Salted Caramel Sauce work well.
6. Once you’ve finished applying the icing to the cookie, shake it very gently to help settle the bumps if there are any. Also, use a toothpick to help smooth out any lumps, bumps, or bubbles.
7. Repeat the process with all the cookies and allow them to set up fully before storing or enjoying.

Storage:

1. I recommend storing your decorated holiday sugar cookies airtight at room temp for up to 5 days. While you can likely get away with storing them for up to 2 weeks at room temp, they won’t taste as fresh.
2. Once they’ve been decorated, do not freeze them because it will cause the icing to smear, run, and bleed together. Although, you can freeze the unbaked cut-out sugar cookie dough. Freeze it airtight in a large disc for up to 4 months, allow it to thaw on the counter, and then roll it out after it’s soft enough, and bake off your fun cut-out sugar cookies.