Brown Sugar Spice Cutout Cookies with Maple Icing

I have to say that I've been spoiling my co-workers this week.  I brought in these delicious fall-flavored cookies AND Pumpkin Pecan Loaf both in a single week.  While I enjoy sharing the goodies I bake (because it's less for me to eat) I hope they're not thinking this will be a regular thing ;).

I made this cookie dough so that I could make large round cut-outs for my Wilton cake decorating class.  I only needed 6 cookies and so the rest of them I used a pretty biscuit cutter and decided it would pair nicely with a maple frosting or icing.  After much debate on whether I should go light and fluffy or hard and shiny with this cookie, I decided to ask for advice on my facebook page where one of my fans Brenda said to go hard and shiny.  So, away I went and I couldn't have been happier with the results.

This cookie has the texture of a butter shortbread and a flavor that just screams Fall.  The spices and use of brown sugar instead of regular breathe new life into traditional sugar cookies.  And, the maple glaze (Thanks Delia for the maple syrup!) perfectly ties everything together.  I'm adding this cookie to my holiday rotation for sure.  Though, I would have liked to decorate the cookie with more colors but didn't have the time.  See Annie's Eats for some great fall decorating ideas!


Brown Sugar Spice Cutout Cookies with Maple Icing

Yields: Varies depending on the size of your cookie cutter but I made approximately three dozen 2.5" diameter cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. allspice
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Maple Icing:

• 1 cup of powdered sugar (plus more if needed)
• 3 Tablespoons of real maple syrup (plus more if needed)

Directions

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bowl; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, brown sugar and butter.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the egg and vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Form the dough into a ball or disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Chill until firm, at least 30-60 minutes.
2. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thickness.  Use cookie cutters to form desired shapes and transfer to the prepared baking sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  Let cool on the baking sheet a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.   
3. To make the maple icing, stir together powdered sugar and maple syrup.  Mixture should not have lumps of powdered sugar and be thick but spreadable like frosting.  You may need to adjust the thickness by adding more powdered sugar (to thicken) or maple syrup (to thin).  Using a small round cake decorating tip or ziplock bag with the corner cut off, pipe a border of the thick sugar maple syrup mixture on the outline of your cookie.  Repeat until all cookies are outlined.  Then, take the mixture and slowly add additional maple syrup to thin.  You'll have reach the desired consistency when the icing melts back into itself when you lift a fork or spoon from the mixture and allow it to drizzle back into the bowl.  Flood the center of each cookie using the icing and use a toothpick to spread the icing all the way to the edges.  Allow icing to dry overnight.

Source: Cookie originally from Bake at 350 as seen on and barely adapted by Annie's Eats.  Icing recipe based on Everyday Occasions by Jenny Steffans Hobick.