Easy recipe for Christmas Spice Shortbread Cookies

Christmas Spice Shortbread Cookies

The month of December is already well underway, it's time to get into the holiday spirit ;-) For me, I'm all set with these spice-flavored cookies, decorated in Christmas colors thanks to royal icing. The advantage of small cookies is that you can make them in endless shapes and colors as you wish, and they will appeal to both adults and kids! Get your cookie cutters ready :-)

Spice Cookie Dough:

130g room temperature butter
30g almond powder
85g powdered sugar
50g eggs
1 pinch of fleur de sel
225g T55 flour
3 tablespoons of gingerbread spices
1 tablespoon of cinnamon (adjust to taste)

Cut the butter into small pieces and add the almond powder and powdered sugar. Mix well, then add the eggs. Once the eggs are well incorporated, add the fleur de sel and spices. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Then, roll out your dough to a thickness of about 4mm and cut out the cookies you want using cookie cutters.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and place in the oven preheated to 170°C for about 10 minutes (be careful, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies, they may not all be cooked at the same time, so watch them closely).

Royal Icing:

2 egg whites (100g)
230g powdered sugar
The food coloring of your choice

Mix the egg whites and powdered sugar using an electric mixer. You need to beat for several minutes to achieve the right consistency, not too firm, but enough for the royal icing to hold. I stopped beating when, upon lifting the mixer from the royal icing, the tracks left by the mixer remained visible for more than 5 seconds.
Then, divide the royal icing into different bowls (I used 4, but it all depends on how many colors you want) and add the food coloring, mixing thoroughly.

Next, place the royal icing in several piping bags fitted with 1 or 2mm plain tips (the smaller the tip, the more precise you can be on your cookies).
All that's left is to have fun with the decorations ;-) I've decorated angels, Christmas trees, snowflakes, shooting stars, and striped candy canes, but of course, you can let your imagination run wild :-)