Lobster Sugar Cookies

Just in time for the Fourth of July, I made Lobstah Cookies.  Yes, that's right Lobstah!  These cookies were made in Boston!

I want to say this upfront.  These cookies do not contain lobster!  I told a number of people of that I was making lobster sugar cookies, and more than one commented that they had never heard of seafood being using in a cookie.  I am not making this up. 

I as I have said previously, living in New England lobster is synonymous with summer, and the bright red color of a cooked lobster seemed to fit in perfectly for the Fourth of July and coordinated well with the cupcakes.  So, I was very excited to make these cookies.

Anyone who knows me in my professional life knows that this is has been a crazy two weeks for me at work, and baking has had to take a backseat.  The Red, White and Blue Velvet Cupcakes I made a few days ago, were relatively quick to make, so I was able to find the time one night to bake those and bring them in for my tired colleagues.  But sugar cookies with royal icing are time consuming, and I was beginning to wonder if I was going to finish these before Independence Day.  Luckily I got out of work earlier than expected one night, and was able to get ahead by making the dough and baking the cookies.

Besides the time issues, I also found that every store in my area was out of red coloring!  This included stores like Michaels that stock gel coloring which is what I typically use for royal icing, and the grocery stores were out of the liquid red color.  (I started looking for red coloring a week ago, not on July 3rd).  Fortunately I remembered seeing food coloring at a kitchen supply warehouse near where I live, and lucky me, they were still well stocked with multi-packs of food coloring.  I bought eleven to make sure I had enough red, since the bottles were rather small and I had never used this brand before.  The red ended up being a little darker than I wanted but overall I am happy with the color especially since I came very close to make blue lobsters.  

As I have mentioned before I use the Wilton Royal Icing recipe.  And here is my standard sugar cookie recipe.  

Sugar Cookies- from Fancys Flours

Ingredients:

• 6 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 cups unsalted butter

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

• Cream sugar and butter until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.

• Put a handful of the freshly made dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to desired thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Repeat with the rest of the dough. 

• Bake at 350 degrees for 8 -10 minutes. Let cool.