So we had to have some sugar cookies yesterday, since it was National Sugar Cookie day. Yes, that’s a day. You get cookies. Anyway, we like to take inspiration from favorite movies and shows and such around here, so obviously, the only choice was Disney’s Tangled. Right? Now these are pretty easy to make, but they sound complicated and daunting. So it’s perfect. You end up with a decent looking cookie, and people think you’re all fancy and French and stuff. So, just like the classing song from Tangled says, off we go a-hunting*.
*Both Beth and Bug love Tangled, so I am deliberately scattering incorrect references in, just to be a pain. I do not apologize.
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Tangled 2: The Makening
Okay, so you need two things to make these. Actually like seven, but I’m only talking about two of them here. Sugar cookies, and something mysterious called royal icing. Sounds more like Frozen then Tangled to me, but hey. Anyway, you just make some sugar cookie dough. Use your favorite recipe. As Eugene Fitzherbert always says, I don’t want to cramp your style. I used this recipe. I like those because they aren’t too sweet, since the icing is going to add a lot of sugar to the recipe, like Pascal always does in the film, with his magic sugar powers. When your dough is ready and chilled, stop following the recipe and skip to the next section.
The other thing you need is Royal Icing. I just feel like that should be capitalized, you know? Again, you can just use your go-to Royal Icing® recipe, I’m sure you have it memorized. If not, I used this one. I went with the egg white variant, for two reasons: 1 Who has meringue powder? 2 Raw egg whites are probably safer than you think. It’s science.* Anyway, you don’t need to make that yet, but those two recipes provided pretty satisfying results. Just sayin’
Tangled 3: The Shape of Sugar Cookies
So, we have our chilled cookie dough ready to shape into cookies, just like in the classic scene from the third movie in the Tangled series. Now here is where you want to deviate from the recipe. Don’t roll it out into a 1/8 inch sheet, or whatever. Don’t even get out your tape measure. Instead, form some balls about the size of a ping pong ball. Then flour your hands, and your countertop, and your pants. Pick up a dough ball, and flatten it into a disc, 2-3 inches across.
Get an apple corer. You do own one, right? Don’t you remember when I told you to make sure you always have an apple corer handy? Center it exactly over your dough disc, and press down gently. You don’t want to actually cut the dough, just score the markings into it.
Once this is done, get a sharp knife. Flour that. (Maybe run outside and flour a passer-by, as well. You can’t be too safe.) Take the knife, and cut along the lines heading toward the outside of the circle, about halfway from the interior circle.
Finally, pinch the ends to create points. This makes it look more like a sun, you see. Transfer these to a baking sheet, and resume following the cookie recipe. Bake and cool and such.
Tangled: The Prequel to the Sequel 2: The Icing Man Cometh
While your cookies are baking, you need to make your Icing Royale. I colored all of it yellow, and did two batches. You leave a small batch thick, then separate the rest and thin it. Then go, and thin no more. Once you have that set up, and your cookies are done and cooled, you are ready to get icing, just like Elsa did in her surprise cameo. You could use a fancy icing bag, or a plastic bag with the corner cut off, but those are expensive or messy. I found a perfect solution, though. You know those plastic medicine syringes that come with children’s medicines? If you have children, you already have eighteen of these. Rinse it thoroughly, like so much. I used soap and a sponge on mine. But you can use it to suck up the icing and administer it to the sugar cookies.
Start with the flowier icing. I got the best control by making a fist around it, and using my thumb to depress the plunger. Also, if you own a lazy susan, this would be a great time to break it out. I don’t own one, but I now wish I did. Draw a circle around the interior circle on your cookie. Leaving a small gap, draw a second, concentric circle around the first. Then, trace each sunray with icing. These should connect to the exterior circle. Once you are done, you flood the interior circle, then the sunrays. The icing should flow into the outlined area, but have a toothpick handy to pop any air bubbles or scoot the icing into an area that it stubbornly refuses to fill, like a toddler with his pants when you are already five minutes late for leaving the house.
Tangled: The Reboot: the Live version (with swirls)
Okay, now that that’s done, you are going to rinse out your syringe, and move to the thicker icing. Start in the center, and just put a swirl on it. Keep it inside the center circle. And that’s it. You do need to let the icing harden completely, but you’re basically done with your Kingdom of Corona Sun sugar cookies. And it really wasn’t that difficult. What’s important is that it looks like it was that difficult. Or, I guess you could always take the lame way out, and just buy a Tangled sun cookie cutter. If you’re not fancy enough.
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