Drunken Sugar Cookies

When one is preparing for a weekend away in the Keys without kids, apparently the thing to do (if you are me) is create Drunken Sugar Cookies. These ended up being such a hit that I was requested to share them. The base recipe is listed first, followed by the instructions.  At the bottom are some ways to change them up based on some popular drinks. Of course, you can use this all as guidelines to make your own favorite cocktail based cookies (or, you can leave the alcohol out for mocktail cookies...though who wants to do that?)!

Cookie Dough Ingredients:
6 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp extract (vanilla for basic sugar cookies, or see below for ideas)
1 tsp salt

Base Icing Ingredients:
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 Tbl extract
Milk, Alcohol, Juices to adjust consistency


Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and extract.  Mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.  On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mix until completely incorporated and dough forms a large ball.
Roll dough up, flatten slightly, cover with saran wrap and chill at least 2 hours.

After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350*.

Place dough on a well floured space and roll out to desired thickness. A great trick to get it even is use paint stir sticks (2-3 taped together) on either side of your dough and put ends of rolling pin over them.  Roll dough in between until pin is rolling flat along the sticks.
Cut out your desired shapes and place them on parchment paper or Silpat lined baking sheets. You should be able to get 4-5 dozen out of the dough, depending on your cookie cutter size.
Bake approximately 10 minutes until the top edges get very slightly golden brown.  They will still be soft when they come out of the oven, but will harden as they cool.
Place the cookies on a wire cooling rack to let them cool completely before decorating.

Now mix together the powdered sugar, corn syrup, and extract with a spoon until combined completely.
You will slowly mix in your liquid until you get a very thick consistency. You can now add any food coloring gels to get your colored icing. Use this to line your cookie design once the cookies are completely cooled.
After you line your cookie design, add a little more liquid to thin out the icing a bit and fill in the design.
Let the icing set for at least an hour before stacking them (if you can hold out on eating them all right away).

Note: For all the icing recipes, always add liquors, milk, juices to icing slowly to get desired consistency.  These are just approximate amounts. You may need less or more as weather, temperature, elevation can always alter amounts needed.

Strawberry Daiquiri:
For the cookie dough: 1 tsp vanilla extract & 1 tsp strawberry extract (or strawberry jelly heated until liquid).
For the icing: 2 tbl strawberry extract & 3 Tbl dark rum (add rum slowly to make sure you get correct consistency for thick consistency.  Then add additional dark rum to taste/get thinner consistency.

Pina Colada:
For the cookie dough: 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp pineapple juice, 1/2 tsp coconut extract
For the icing: 2 Tbl Coco Lopez, 2 Tbl pineapple juice, & 3 Tbl coconut rum for thick consistency (add rum slowly to make sure you get correct consistency). Then add dark rum to taste/get thinner consistency.

Margarita:
For the cookie dough: 1 tsp vanilla extract & 1 tsp lime juice & 1/2 tsp grated lime peel
For the icing: 5-10 packets True Lime (to taste), 1 Tbl lime juice, 4 Tbl tequila (add tequila slowly to make sure you get correct consistency). Then add tequila to taste/get thinner consistency.