Fall Leaf Cookies
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Fall Leaf Sugar Cookies are seasonal treats that capture the beauty of autumn in every bite. These buttery sugar cookies are cut into classic leaf shapes then baked to perfection. Each cookie is hand decorated with royal icing in rich fall tones like crimson, burnt orange, and golden yellow, with delicate sugared veining.
Two years ago I found some fun leaf cookie cutters and was excited to make them in the fall. Unfortunately September through December is my crazy cookie time and I have orders to fill almost every weekend.
These orders are mostly for homecoming, Halloween, and Christmas. This means there isn’t much time for making other cookies for myself.
When I tell people that making decorated sugar cookies takes a lot of time I think they think I’m crazy. However, to make sugar cookies I have to prepare the dough, refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, roll out the dough, and bake the cookies. Then the cookies have to cool before I can do anything else.
I really do enjoy making decorated cookies though. My most popular ones are Alice in Wonderland Cookies. My Easter Sugar Cookies are easier to make because they are simply royal icing with sanding sugar on top of them. I’ve even made cute Shark Week Cookies.
After cooling I can make the royal icing and then decorate the cookies. Decorating the cookies is a painstaking task that takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.
What is Royal Icing?
Royal icing is a smooth, hard drying icing made from just a few simple ingredients like powdered sugar, meringue powder, and a bit of water. It dries to a firm, glossy finish, making it perfect for decorating cookies, especially for detailed piping and flood work like on sugar cookies or gingerbread houses.
A few weeks ago I had some extra sugar cookie dough from another project and instead of putting it back in the refrigerator I grabbed my leaf cookie cutters and cut a dozen out. I baked them, cooled them, and put them away to decorate the next day.
Ingredients:
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar
- egg
- vanilla extract
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
To make the cookies cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until a dough has formed. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
Can you freeze sugar cookie dough?
Yes you can! Form the dough into a flat disc or ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to use thaw in the refrigerator over night.
When ready to make the cookies remove the dough from the refrigerator. Break off a large chunk of the dough and roll it out on a flour covered surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.
These cookies turned out great. They are sweet but not overly sweet. They hold their shape well so it was easy to tell that they were leaves.
The great thing about these cookies is that they only have one color per cookie. Most of my cookies have between 2-4 colors per cookie which is why they take forever. When using one color it makes it really easy.
I simply outlines and filled all the cookies using red, orange, or yellow and let them dry for 30 minutes. Then I drew the “veins” on the inside of the cookie in the same color and sprinkled it with the same colored sprinkles. That’s it!
These cookies were super easy to make and I love the shimmering sprinkles on them. I wish I had made them sooner because they don’t take much effort at all!
Fall Leaf Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2 sticks of butter softened
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 c. flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the royal icing:
- 3 c. powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon meringue powder
- 3-4 Tablespoons water
- red orange, yellow food coloring
- red orange, and yellow sanding sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar. Mix until well combined.
- Stir in the egg and mix well. Stir in the vanilla.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Mix for 2 minutes or until well combined.
- Place the dough in plastic wrap, cover completely, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
- When ready to bake preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Sprinkle an area with flour and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out leaf shapes. Place on a cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, and bake for 7-8 minutes.
- Keep a careful eye out on the cookies as you do not want them to brown.
- Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder in a bowl. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Divide into 3 bowls. Color 1 bowl red, 1 orange, and 1 yellow.
- Put half the icing into zip top baggies. Snip off a corner of the baggie and pipe an outline onto each leaf. Fill in the leaf with remaining icing. Allow icing to harden for 30 minutes.
- Using the icing still in the baggies, pipe on "veins" inside the cookies, doing 1 at a time, and quickly sprinkle with sanding sugar. Continue until they are completed.
Notes
