Today we are preparing for Wassail Fest around town! Unfortunately, the W is not doing its normal Wassail Fest celebration, so instead of doing a showpiece for that, we are taking the food truck to main street and passing out Wassail and sugar cookies instead. The original plan was to make hot cocoa, cookies, and homemade marshmallows; however, the lady in charge of Wassail said that we are only allowed to serve wassail as a beverage. No cocoa, no marshmallows. So a last minute wassail recipe and quick sugar cookies it is!

I came in and made about 10 pounds of sugar cookie dough on Tuesday and left it in the fridge for our class on Friday, so that we could get straight to work cutting out our snowflake cookies, baking, and decorating them. We made a simple royal icing recipe to go along with our cookies, and dipped the cookies before sprinkling them with shiny, clear sprinkles. They actually turned out quite pretty. However, it did take from 8:00 am until about 1:00 pm to get about 350 of them done.

I really LOVE sugar cookies, and this is Chef Mary Helen’s great sugar cookie recipe.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine salt

Directions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla bean paste and mix.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and add to the butter mixture.
3. Mix together well.
4. Cover and chill for at least 1 to 2 hours. (At this point, I wrapped it all up really well and left it in the fridge until we needed it on Friday!)
5. Preheat oven to 350F. Cover baking sheets with parchment or silat mat to prevent cookies from spreading.
6. On a clean surface dusted with powdered sugar, roll dough to approximately 1/4 inch thick. Dust cookie cutters with powdered sugar and cut shapes.
7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies begin to turn brown around the edges.
8. Place on a cooling rack to cool. Decorate cooled cookies with icing and fondant.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

• 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp meringue powder
• 4-6 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Mix on low to combine.
2. While whisk is still going, slowly add water 1 tbsp at a time.
3. Change speed to medium low and let whisk for 7 to 10 minutes. Icing will be yellow and runny until mixed for 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Add any desired flavorings. Add more water to achieve desired thickness.

Tip: Do not leave icing out uncovered! When not using, always place a damp towel over the icing bowl, not touching the icing. The icing will dry out if it is left uncovered!

Once all the cookies were decorated, we took a break until 3:30 at which time we needed to be back in the kitchen and ready to load the CHEW truck! I used some of this time to get ready in my Elsa costume because my job for the night was to attract people to our truck to try our cookies and wassail!

The night was really fun for me, although a bit chilly. Good thing the cold never bothered me anyway! 😉 I stood outside of the truck and took more pictures than I could count with children, teenagers, and adults. I really had a great time, and everyone seemed to really enjoy our cookies and Wassail! Now I can officially say that I have worked in a food truck. What a great experience and a fun night!

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