Daring Bakers: Decorated Sugar Cookies

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Recipe Here

So the challenge this month was to make cookies in "September" theme. I really don't have anything special for September. I thought about doing button cookies for national sewing month, but that seemed kinda boring. So I thought about what September meant to me and I thought of going for walks, and school field trips, which led me to puppies and dinosaurs. I know its a stretch, but seriously September? Other than football and apples there really isn't anything very September-y.But anyways, I added a bag of cherry herbal tea to the recipe but other than that is stayed the same. Next time I will add 2 bags to try and bring the flavor out more. The recipe is REALLY easy to do. Not terribly tasty, but not terribly icky either. It's a good conduit for frosting.

I used a basic butter cream frosting that I had leftover from some cupcakes on some of the cookies. The recipe is:

1/2 C. salted butter
1/2 C. vegetable shortening
4 C. Sifted powder sugar
2 TBL. Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla or Almond Extract

Cream butter and shortening. Add sugar. Add milk and Extracts.

it's pretty easy. And pretty tasty. If you can let it set for a day or two before using, the powdered sugar breaks down even more and you have this yummy cream frosting. If anyone knows how to make buttercream frosting smooth on a cookie please let me know.

For the dinosaurs I used the royal icing recipe in the recipe. It was fun to decorate with. Kinda like a grown up coloring book. Pretty tasty as far as royal icings go.


There is just something cheerful about pok-a-dotted dinosaurs. It might not be the most September-y thing out there, but It reminds me of the days we went to the science & field museum.