COOKING LIGHT CHRISTMAS COOKIES RECIPES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. In another bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Shape into a disk; wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-in. Christmas light-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., In a small bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and enough water to reach desired consistency. Reserve 2/3 cup frosting for bottom of cookies and reflections. Divide remaining frosting between four bowls. Tint one red, one blue, one green and one yellow. Frost tops of cookies. If desired, sprinkle with colored sugar. Tint half of the reserved frosting gray; frost bottom of cookies. With remaining white frosting and a #5 round tip, pipe on reflections. Let stand until completely set., To Make Ahead: Dough can be made 2 days in advance. Wrap and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator., Freeze option: Freeze undecorated cookies in freezer containers. To use, thaw in covered containers and decorate as desired.

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, stir together the sugar cookie mix and the flour. (NOTE: The package recipe says to add 1 tablespoon of flour, but with the addition of the wet food coloring, I added an extra tablespoon to ensure the light bulbs would look like light bulbs once baked.) Add the butter and mix to combine. Crack the egg, pour the egg into the bowl and mix until a soft dough forms, saving the egg shell for later.
• Pinch off about 1/4 cup of the dough. Set it aside. Divide the remaining dough in half.
• Color one half of the dough red and the other half green, using the food coloring.
• Scoop out 14 tablespoonfuls of the red dough and 14 of the green dough. Roll into balls then shape into Christmas lights (like teardrops). Set on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
• Divide the remaining uncolored dough into 28 small pieces. Roll the pieces into balls then into short tubes. Use the tiny amount of egg white that is still inside the egg shell as glue. Use a pastry brush or your finger to brush a bit of egg white one end of each tube of dough and press them onto the wider ends of the colored light bulb shaped dough.
• Refrigerate the light bulbs for 30 minutes.
• Preheat your oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick cookie sheets.) Bake cookies, one tray at a time, for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
• Decorate your Christmas Light Cookies by filling a disposable pastry bag or a zip top bag with the chocolate frosting. Snip off the end of the bag and pipe a small dot of frosting onto the back of each candy eye. Press the eyes onto your light bulbs. Pipe on silly smiles. Pipe grooves onto the base of each light bulb.
• To dress up your platter of cookies, arrange your light bulb cookies along a strand of ribbon or a long licorice lace. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.