Decorated Cut-Out Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus chilling and decorating
Preheat To: 350°F (180°C)
Serving: 9 dozen (approximately)

Ingredients:

Cookies
1¼ cups (300 mL) butter, softened
½ cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
½ cup (125 mL) brown sugar
2 eggs
1 can (300 mL) Regular or Low Fat Eagle Brand® sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla extract
5 cups (1.25 L) Robin Hood® All Purpose Flour
4 tsp (20 mL) baking powder
½ tsp (2 mL) salt

Royal Icing
½ cup (125 mL) pasteurized liquid egg whites
4-6 cups (1 L - 1.5 L) icing sugar
Food colouring
Decorations (colored sugar, sprinkles, candies)

Preparation:

1.  Cream butter and sugars together with electric mixer. Add eggs, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla; mix until smooth.
2.  Add remaining dry ingredients. Beat until dough is combined. Form into 3 balls, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 2 hours or up to 2 days.
3.  Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease or line baking sheets with parchment paper.
4.  Roll dough on a lightly floured surface ¼" (.5cm) thickness. Using a 2" (5cm) cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes. Place on prepared baking sheets.
5.  Bake in preheated oven 12-15 minutes until edges are light brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Icing :
6.  Beat egg whites in electric mixer on high speed. Add icing sugar beating until smooth. Divide icing into several bowls (one per colour). Add a few drops of food colouring to each batch, mixing until desired colour is achieved. Pipe or brush onto cookies, and decorate. Let icing harden before storing cookies.

Notes:

Freeze half of the dough for future baking if you do not want to bake all the cookies. Freeze extra uniced cookies to decorate at another time. Thicken or thin the icing by adding more icing sugar or water. A thicker icing may be easier to pipe, a thinner icing may be easier to spread.