Sherry Sugars

Wonderful for the holidays and made to be decorated, these cookies are delicately sweet and are a perfect backdrop for a little sugar glaze. In my sugar glaze recipe, I've used a few unusual techniques for getting some color since I don't like using traditional food colorings. Yields about 60 cookies.

Ingredients

1 cup Splenda® or sugar
¼ cup Smart Balance® buttery spread
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup cream sherry

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter-substitute and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter-mixture alternately with the sherry, beating after each addition. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly spray baking sheet with canola oil.

Roll out on a floured surface to ¼" thickness. Cut out shapes with, preferably, a small biscuit cutter. Place on baking sheet. Bake 5 to 7 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown.


Sugar Glaze

Ingredients

1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoon water
Green: powdered green tea
Pink: hibiscus tea brewed in about ¼ cup of water with a sprinkle of ground annato, for color

Stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water. If it's too thick for dipping cookies, add more water and maybe a touch of corn syrup. If it's too thin, add more sugar. Really, I just eyeball this recipe—be careful when adding more ingredients and do so slowly.

Separate a bit of the master glaze onto two plates. Add the coloring ingredients to each plate and add sugar or water to get the consistency back to where it should be. Dip each cookie and swirl the frosting around so it covers the whole surface and set on a rack to dry overnight. The glaze should be hard by morning.