ALICE IN WONDERLAND SUGAR COOKIES

Alice in Wonderland Sugar Cookies

Old-fashioned Gingerbread Sugar Cookies are thick and spicy, soft and chewy, and remind us of childhood celebrations.  Always a favorite at Christmas time and Thanksgiving, these old-fashioned cookies are perfect for Alice in Wonderland parties, Onederland first birthday parties, Mad Hatter Tea Parties, baby showers and garden teas!   

​Our family-favorite recipe for gingerbread cookie cutouts, whether it’s gingerbread people, gingerbread snowflakes or gingerbread woodland animals, these are so much fun to bake and decorate together, and just get more perfect over time!

Alice in Wonderland Sugar Cookies

SUGAR COOKIE TIPS & TRICKS:

• Baking sheets: I use my favorite USA Pan Bakeware half sheet pans, which are aluminized steel, warp resistant and nonstick. I always line with parchment paper, not a silicone baking mat (which I find causes more spread).
• Marble pastry board: This isn’t necessary, but if you have one, it’s great for keeping sugar cookie dough and pie crust cold!
• Rolling pin: A simple wooden one is all you need, but my favorite is my Joseph Joseph Wooden Rolling Pin with adjustable rollers.
• Flavors: I adore the pure vanilla flavor, but some people like a little bit of almond – I would recommend starting with ¼ teaspoon of almond extract in addition to the vanilla.  For other fun-flavored sugar cookies, you can also replace the vanilla with your favorite extract or emulsion to the cookie dough if you’d like!
• Cookie cutters: You can use absolutely any, so pick your favorites! I have a mixture of plastic and metal and they all work amazingly well with this recipe. It holds its shape for intricate designs, as well. I always dip mine in flour before cutting for a nice, clean release.
• Scaling: You can double (or more!) this recipe without issue.
• Buttercream frosting: If you want to do a simple frosting (with or without sprinkles!), then I recommend my favorite Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.
• Royal Icing: To do more detailed decorating, I prefer to use Royal Icing.
• Storage: The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
• Make-Ahead: While I love that you can whip up these cookies immediately, you can mix together the dough, divide in half and form into disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. You can also freeze the dough (place the wrapped disk in a ziploc freezer bag) for up to 1 month; thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then bring it to almost room temperature, roll out, and proceed with the recipe.
• Freezing: These cookies freeze exceptionally well! You can freeze them plain or decorated; if decorated, let the icing set before freezing. Store in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bag with parchment paper between the layers. The cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party Sugar Cookies

MAD HATTER TEA PARTY COOKIES - ​DON'T BE LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE! 

Mad Hatter Tea Party Sugar Cookies are a must for an Alice in Wonderland theme as well!  These thick and tender cookies are also perfect for an Alice in Onederland birthday party, baby shower, tea party or garden party.  

IS IT HARD TO DECORATE WITH ROYAL ICING?  

Not at all!  With my Easy Royal Icing Recipe, cookie decorating is simple, fast and so much fun - I call it "arts and crafts" for grown-ups - but everyone, at any age, will have fun decorating cookies!  Here are my hints for working with royal icing:

• Consistency:  There are three primary consistencies for Royal Icing – Outline, Flood, and Detail. 
• Coloring: There is no shortcut to great Royal Icing colors!  Start with a great royal icing recipe, and use quality gel food coloring to get the best results.  I recommend and use AmeriColor gel food coloring.  Start with a few drops and add more food coloring only as necessary.  Note that the colors will darken as they sit. 
• Decorating with Dark Colors:  For deep or dark colors, you will use more food coloring, and for deepest black, red and green colors, for best results I make the royal icing and color the day before I’ll be decorating. It takes time and patience for the colors to fully develop.
• Color Bleeding:  To prevent colors from bleeding into one another, start by coloring your base recipe of Royal Icing with White food coloring. Sounds crazy, but it helps!
• Take your Time:  Allow each layer of icing to dry completely before adding the next layer. 

Alice in Wonderland Sugar Cookies

HERE ARE MY TIPS & TRICKS FOR AIRBRUSHING COOKIES:

• Conquer Your Fears – open that air brush system that you purchased and just dive in!  It is so much easier than you can imagine – and so much fun!
• Airbrush:  I use my favorite airbrush system from The Cookie Countess, with a 4mm gun for solid color (5mm for glitter sheens or metallic colors).
• AmeriColor AmeriMist food color is my favorite!  By coloring the Royal Icing used for your flood base with Pure White gel food coloring, this will prevents the airbrush color from over-saturating.
• Stencil Genie:  A magnetic stencil frame is an absolute MUST if you are using stencils on your cookies!  This works for both royal icing or while airbrushing.  My favorites are Stencil Genie and Sweet Sugarbelle Magnetic Stencil Frame (you can find both on Amazon and at your local craft store).
• Cookie Silk Screen:  I recommend using a silk screen made specifically for airbrushing cookies – ThreeSweetChicks.com makes my favorite.  They have a great video on their site for how to use a cookie silk screen – take the time to watch it!  I’ve purchased other silk screens that just wouldn’t work out because they weren’t food grade quality.
• Make Sure your base Royal Icing is COMPLETE DRY before starting!  I dry my cookies overnight before stenciling – ALWAYS!
• Dry Overnight!  Once you have completed your airbrushing, make sure that your cookies dry overnight before packaging, to prevent smearing.  

Alice in Wonderland Sugar Cookies

ALICE IN WONDERLAND SUGAR COOKIES

Old-fashioned Gingerbread Sugar Cookies are thick and spicy, soft and chewy, and remind us of childhood celebrations.  Always a favorite at Christmas time and Thanksgiving, these old-fashioned cookies are perfect for Alice in Wonderland parties, Onederland first birthday parties, Mad Hatter Tea Parties, baby showers and garden teas!   Our family-favorite recipe for gingerbread cookie cutouts, whether it’s gingerbread people, gingerbread snowflakes or gingerbread woodland animals, these are so much fun to bake and decorate together, and just get more perfect over time!
​

Alice in Wonderland Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
3 and 1/2 cups (437g) all-purpose flour (sifted, spooned & leveled)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
10 Tablespoons (2/3 cup) unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
2/3 cup (200g) molasses (I use Grandma's Molasses brand)
1 large egg (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 
EASY ROYAL ICING:
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons Wilton Meringue Powder
10-12 tablespoons water (room temperature)
1 teaspoon corn syrup
AmeriColor Soft Gel Food Coloring (strongly recommended!)
 
FOR DECORATING:  Holiday Sprinkles and Sparkling Sugar (both optional)
 
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:

• Cookie cutter(s)
• Rolling pin (wooden Joseph Joseph Rolling Pin works the BEST for these cookies!)
• Large baking sheets
• Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper
• Piping Bags & Tips
• Cookie Stencil
• Airbrush System (optional)
• AmeriColor AmeriMist (spray-on air brush food color)

 
 HOW I MAKE THESE: 

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.
2. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy.  Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat on medium high speed until combined and creamy-looking.  Add in the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed for 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Don’t worry if your butter separates!
3. On low speed, slowly mix half of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until combined; add remaining flour mixture and again mix just until combined. The cookie dough will be thick and slightly sticky.  
4. Generously flour your work surface and rolling pin.  Divide dough into half and place on top of a parchment paper sized for your baking pans.  Roll each half to a ¼-inch thickness (you will need to re-flour your rolling pin periodically to keep the dough from sticking).  The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.  We’re rolling the cookie dough out BEFORE chilling it, which isn’t typical for most gingerbread cookie recipes – but this is a great trick!  The dough is so much easier to roll out before it’s chilled.
5. Stack the pieces, with parchment paper between the two and a single piece of parchment paper on top, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.  Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough, so that the cookies will keep their shape when baked.
6. The next day, preheat oven to 350°.  Line 2-3 large baking pans with parchment paper (I prefer parchment paper over silicone baking mats for these cookies). 
7. Remove one of the chilled cookie dough pieces from the refrigerator.  The dough will seem very hard, but it’s softer than it appears!  Immediately cut into shapes with cookie cutters that have been dipped in flour.  Place each cookie about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.  Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped.  Repeat with remaining cookie dough.  Refrigerate cut cookie dough on baking sheets for 10-15 minutes before baking (this will help keep them from spreading).  HELPFUL HINT:  I usually place one completed pan in the refrigerator while working on cutting out the next pan, rotating between cutting, chilling and baking. 
8. Bake cookies for about 9-10 minutes. If your cookie cutters are smaller than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes. If your cookie cutters are larger than 4 inches, bake for about 11 minutes.  Every oven is a little bit different, so watch your first batch when baking and time accordingly.  DO NOT OVERBAKE!  The cookies don’t spread much when they’re baking, so they will stay around ¼-inch thick. These are thick old-fashioned gingerbread cookies!  Be sure not to overbake these as they’ll lose their softness. 
9. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the parchment paper together with the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Once completely cool, decorate with Bakery Frosting or Easy Royal Icing and sprinkles (Bakery Frosting is easier for little ones…)
10. TO MAKE EASY ROYAL FROSTING:  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, corn syrup and 7-8 tablespoons of room-temperature water and beat on high speed for 5 minutes. (I always start with 7 to 8 tablespoons of water and usually need to add a tablespoon or two more, depending on the weather and humidity.) For bright white Royal Frosting that doesn’t bleed, I usually add a drop or two of Americolor Bright White gel food coloring.
11. After five minutes of beating, lift the paddle up off the icing - the icing should drizzle down in a ribbon and smooth out within 10-15 seconds with the frosting in the bowl. If it's too thick, add a little more water (a teaspoon at a time). If it's too thin, add a little more sifted confectioners' sugar (a tablespoon or two at a time).
12. If you haven’t made royal icing before, you maybe not be familiar that this icing crusts VERY quickly! When exposed to air icing forms a crust on the surface within 5-10 minutes.
13. To prevent this from happening, you need to cover royal icing when you’re not working directly with it (for example, you’ve split the icing into separate bowls to color separately with gel food coloring).  For the short term you can cover each bowl with a damp kitchen towel or damp paper towel. 
14. FROST & DECORATE!   Pipe or frost completely cooled cookies and sprinkle with optional sprinkles or decorating sugar.   
15. This Easy Royal Icing usually sets in about 2 hours at room temperature, depending on the temperature and humidity.  If you're layering royal icing onto cookies for specific designs and need it to set quickly, place cookies in front of a fan heater (set on low heat), box fan or oscillating fan to help speed it up – you’ll need at least 1 hour between layers.  Letting your decorated cookies dry in front of a fan will also increase the “sheen” or “shine” of the frosting, rather than a flat matte finish if dried slower only at room temperature.
16. For stenciling with either royal icing or airbrush food color, make sure base coat of royal icing dries overnight before airbrushing and decorating. 
17. For a shimmery finish, I used AmeriMist Airbrush Food Coloring in Super Black for stenciling. 
18. Florals and leaves were added with Royal Icing.
19. For best results, allow frosting to set and dry 24-HOURS before storing – keep parchment paper between each layer. 

YIELD:  Makes 24 (four-inch) cookies.

NOTES:  These cookies will stay fresh in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:  Plain baked cookies freeze well up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before decorating.
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TO KEEP THESE COOKIES SOFT:  I keep a slice of sandwich bread in the container to keep the cookies soft – replace every day or so, as soon as the slice of bread dries out.  It’s a sweet little trick!  These cookies will stay fresh in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to one week.  

Original recipe by Snowflakes & Coffeecakes; revised and republished in March 2022.

© SnowflakesandCoffeecakes.  All images, attachments & content are copyright protected. All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to www.snowflakesandcoffeecakes.com for the recipe.
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