Iced Maple Sugar Cookies

So after making Dan’s birthday cake, I had a lot of left over icing.  And since it took me ages to finely chop all those strawberries, I certainly didn’t want it to go to waste.  So, I made sugar cookies, and iced them with my leftover strawberry icing.  I will also note that Dan loves iced sugar cookies, so this counts as extra birthday baking.

For Christmas, Dan’s mom gave me a book of Christmas cookie recipes, and this was from the book.  It’s a recipe from April Gadoury, and she titles it “Best-Ever Sugar Cookies.”  And she does not lie.  The maple syrup adds an extra sweetness, but the cookies aren’t overwhelmed with the flavor of maple.  They also iced really nicely, I just popped them back into the fridge after I iced them so everything could solidify.  My only tweak would be that instead of trying to roll them out and use a cookie cutter, I think next time I’ll form them into a log before putting in the fridge so that I can just slice and bake them… much easier!

Iced Maple Sugar Cookies
Source: Christmas Cookies, April Gadoury

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3  cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Strawberry Icing (recipe here)

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl.  Mix with an electric mixer until fully incorporated.  Add in eggs, syrup, and vanilla, and mix.

Whisk together  flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Gradually beat into sugar mixture.  Divide the dough in half.  Roll each half into a log, and wrap with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.

Slice hardened log into 1/4″ thick cookies.  Bake at 375* for 6-10 minutes.  Let cool, then ice.

Makes 15-20 cookies.