Cinnamon Brown Sugar Advent Calendar Cookies

For the last couple of years I've wanted to do a kind of blog post advent calender, 25 themed posts counting down to Christmas Day. This year I'm going to give it a go, I might be biting off a bit much at this busy time of year, but we'll see how it goes.

So here we go, very fitting as day one I think, a cookie advent calender. 

These cookies are much like a standard sugar cookie with a two yummy differences, brown sugar and cinnamon. Replacing the usual granulated or powdered sugar with brown sugar gives the cookies a slight caramel taste and a nice golden colour. If you get tired of gingerbread (I guess it happens to some people, maybe?) these cookies would make a nice alternative.

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Cookies (makes around 3 dozen)
225 grams salted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 3/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

To make the Cookies- Cream together the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, continue beating until well combine.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together in a separate bowl. Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients to the butter mixture beating until it forms a dough.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees c. and line baking trays with baking paper.

Working with a 1/4 of the dough at a time, place between 2 sheets of baking paper sprinkled with a little flour and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut out various Christmas shapes with cookie cutters, remove the off-cuts and continue using until all the dough is used up.

Transfer the cut cookie shapes to the lined baking tray (1 inch apart) using a knife or spatula. If the cookies are too soft to move place them in the freezer for a minute until they are just firm enough to transfer.

Bake the cookies until just they are lightly golden, 10-15 minutes. The time will vary oven to oven so keep an eye on the first tray to see how long they take. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool completely on trays.

Decorate the cooled cookies, piping design in white royal icing and don't forget to number them 1 to 25.

For the Royal Icing
500 grams icing sugar
15 grams meringue powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90 mls water

To make the Royal Icing- Add the icing sugar, meringue powder, vanilla and water to a large mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment if possible beat on low until the ingredients come together, increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes until the icing is a smooth toothpaste consistency.

Note- don't add all the water at once, add gradually until you get the right consistency, it could be a little more or less. This should make more than enough icing for all of your cookies.