French Christmas Cookies

 These French sugar cookies are so good with the orange zest and spices.  We used a simple powdered sugar glaze to frost them but next time I'll frost with the royal icing as suggested.  We also tripled the batch because the original recipe made a teeny, tiny batch.  (I've tripled the cookies below, so you don't need to triple it again unless you want a big batch, but I didn't triple the icing recipe since we didn't try it.)

French Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 C. granulated sugar
1/4 + 1/8 C. powdered sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 + 1/8 tsp ground cloves
3 large egg yolks (save the whites for the icing)
3 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of 3 medium oranges (or lemons)
3 C. all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the cookies

For the Icing:

2 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar, or a splash of fresh lemon juice
3 C. powdered sugar, sifted
1 drop of blue food coloring (or whatever colors you want)

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.  Add the salt, cinnamon and cloves; mix to combine.  Now, add in the egg yolk, orange zest and vanilla extract and mix until the egg is completely incorporated.  Add the flour and mix just until the flour is incorporated; don't mix anymore than you need to.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and pat down  so that you get a 1-inch disc.  Refrigerate the dough until it's thoroughly chilled, about 1 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Take your dough out of the fridge and let sit on the counter for about 15 minutes.  If you try to roll the dough right away, you'll end up with a lot of cracks in the dough. 

Dust your counter space with flour and place the dough on this surface.  Roll the dough to a 1/4" thickness, rotating the dough every once in a while; don't roll back and forth.

Cut dough with cookie cutters and place fairly close together on the prepared cookie sheets, as they will not spread much.  

Bake the cookies for about 11-14 minutes.  They should be golden along the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes.

Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.  Meanwhile, prepare the royal icing.  In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar or lemon juice just until the egg whites are frothy.  Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.  Once the icing is white and thick, stop mixing.

Remove about 1/3 cup of the icing and pour into a separate bowl.  Add the drop of blue food coloring and whisk to combine.  Paint the icing onto the cookies and decorate with other embellishments as desired.