Angry Birds Cookies – Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies

There is going to be a lot of Angry Birds posts this week.  My son wanted an Angry Birds birthday party.  However, there isn’t a lot of Angry Birds stuff you can just buy out there in terms of already made games, small toys, plates/napkins, balloons, etc.  After much digging on the internet, here is the party I came up with.   I disregarded quite a few game ideas I saw on the web because we already did “pin the tail” last year and “find the eggs” as well for the Dinosaur party.  Dinosaur party – tons of stuff out there.  Angry Birds, not so much!

Here are the cookies I made for party favors.  I know I know – yellow bird is NOT yellow on top.  I apologize.   Most pros recommend 2 batches of the royal icing recipe below.  I had enough for one and didn’t estimate enough yellow icing.

There is a lot to learn about royal icing and I’m still learning as you can see.  It takes practice, practice, practice.  These cookies would also look better outlined with a black food coloring pen.  But they are only sold in packages at the store for $9 and this would have been a one time use.  I love to bake and these tasted great, but I don’t think I’m great at decorating 🙂

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies

3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar, stored with vanilla beans
2 sticks (salted) butter, cold
1 egg
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
2.  In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together.   Add 1 egg, and the extracts.
3.  On low speed, add the flour little by little.  Scrape the bowl making sure all the ingredients are mixed together.  You don’t need to overbeat it.
4.   Have two large pieces of cling wrap ready on the counter if you are going to not use it immediately.  Scoop half of the dough into your hands and form into a ball while removing.  It will be crumbly, so just keep putting it together into a ball, then form into a disk.  Wrap in the cling wrap and store in the fridge.
5.  If you are using immediately, obviously don’t store it in the fridge.  Scoop it up and knead the dough together.  Place it on a floured surface.  Roll to about 1/4″ thick.  Cut into shapes.  Place shapes on parchment or silicone mat.  Freeze for about 5 minutes.
6.  Bake at 350 degrees for  10-12 minutes.  Make sure they do not brown – they will be overdone then.

Royal Icing
covers about 24 cookies that are 3.5″ wide

4 Tbs. meringue powder
scant 1/2 cup water
1 lb. powdered sugar, SIFTED
1 tsp. light corn syrup
few drops of clear vanilla extract

1.  Using the paddle attachment, stir to combine the powder and water.   Stir until foamy.
2.  On LOW, add the powdered sugar.  Add in corn syrup and extract.  Increase speed to medium-high for about 5 minutes.  Watch carefully to see when the icing becomes glossy and stiff peaks form.  Do not overbeat either.  This will be the icing brittle when dry.

** When making red icing, I would highly advise getting “no taste red” or just not using it.  It really makes the great cookies not taste so great.

**Outline piped with a #2 tip.  Flooding done with #3 tip or Wilton candy squirt bottles.

Outlined the Red Angry Bird and filled with white flood icing for the eyeballs, light yellow flood icing for the belly and black flood icing for the hair and pupils.

Outlined the Yellow Angry Bird and filled with white flood icing for the eyeballs, light yellow flood icing for the belly and black flood icing for the hair and pupils.

Recipe from bakeat350.blogspot.com

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