It’s EAA week in my hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin! EAA’s annual air show, AirVenture [1], is the largest air show in the United States. It’s kiiiiiiind of a big deal for anyone in aviation. For a week each summer, our little airport becomes one of the world’s busiest. There are planes buzzing overhead all week long and it’s just a really cool event that Oshkosh is fortunate enough to host.
I’m going to EAA (locals call it EAA, not AirVenture) today – to continue my tradition of going almost every year since I was a little kid. I made these cookies to celebrate. I ordered the airplane cookie cutter online and didn’t pay enough attention to the size — it’s pretty tiny! So it’s a small miracle that these cookies don’t look worse, considering I’m not great at piping outlines! I decorated them with the colors of the Christen Eagle [2], my favorite airplane.
Happy Friday to you all!
Airplane Cookies
If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:
- I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below. Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350 [3].
- I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats [4], which is listed below.
- If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats [5], which will teach you about outlining and flooding. Bake at 350 [6] is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).
Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:
- I ordered the cookie cutter from Amazon. As I mentioned above, I didn’t pay attention to the size and the cookie cutter I received is quite small. If you are hoping to make larger planes, look closely at the size.
- I outlined the cookies in black royal icing.
- Once the black outline was dry, I piped the red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple stripes. I dyed the icing with Wilton gel colorings.
- When the stripes were dry, I flooded the cookies with white royal icing.
Omi’s Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes).
White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.