Hey Besties! At the time of this writing, it’s Mother’s Day! And since one of my mom’s favorite flavors is cotton candy, it felt like the perfect time to release our recipe for cotton candy cookies! The latest in our growing collection of fun flavor cutout cookie recipes! As always, these are no-chill, because who has time for that?! Certainly not busy moms! And no-spread because we want perfectly shaped cookies! And above all else, irresistibly delicious and have everyone coming back for more! Super yummy plain or iced, they are sure to bring smiles and happy tummies! Let’s start playing with sugar!
Sweet Flavor Perfection
Don’t we all have sweet memories of getting cotton candy at the fair, the zoo and other fun events as a child? I feel like cotton candy is one of those core memory flavors that is not only delicious but brings back the nostalgia. And if eating actual cotton candy makes your teeth hurt nowadays, these cookies are the perfect solution! The secret ingredient in these magical cookies is THIS cotton candy super strength flavoring from LorAnn’s. What I love most about this flavoring is that it is not sickeningly sweet; it’s the perfect flavor without being overpowering.
And as with all super strength flavors, a tiny bit goes a long way. But you can also make the flavor as subtle or as strong as you’d like. If baking with super strength flavors is new to you, THIS post will tell you everything you need to know about working with extracts, emulsions and these magical flavors!
In this set, the cookies bring the flavor and we also put just a hint of flavoring into our royal icing as well!
Cotton Candy Cookies: Design Options
You can whip these up and be eating them in under 30 minutes and there is nothing wrong with that! But if you do choose to decorate or ice them, I’m happy to share the details on how I made these!
For the days when you want pretty iced cookies but don’t care to use a decorating bag, dipping is your answer! I LOVE dipping cookies in beautiful colors to make one-of-a-kind cookies that are visually stunning and equally as delicious. Anyone can dip cookies and it is a fun and rewarding activity! To learn how to successfully dip marble cookies, THIS post, which includes a demo video, will have you dipping in no time.
For those who do want to bust out a decorating bag, I got you! THIS is one of my favorite cookie cutter shops! Not only do they have adorable designs, but their cutters include the names of the cutter right on them! I can’t thank them enough for that since we all know the mental gymnastics that go on when you’re staring at 100 cutters. THIS is the exact cutter I used for this set and LOVE how they turned out! Super cute and will be used all summer long in fun cookie sets! I may even use this for some fun ice cream cone sets too!
ChefMaster colors are our go-to and these required just a drop of deep pink and sky blue! We always get perfect colors and for a great price compared to other brands.
As far as design, they don’t get much easier than this! I started with outlining and flooding the white cone section. And popped it into the dehydrator to crust for about 10 minutes! Then flooded the cotton candy section, you guessed it, back into the dehydrator for about 15 minutes. If you don’t use a dehydrator for decorating, you’ll let these air dry or use a table fan for increased air flow.
Then using a piping/medium consistency, added the details on the cones and cotton candy swirls. I topped the swirls with white sanding sugar while the icing was wet. My favorite sanding sugar is Walmart’s Great Value brand; it has better sparkle than all the rest! Back into the dehydrator to quick set for 15 min and then let dry overnight. In the morning, I use a fan brush to brush off any excess sanding sugar. And voila!
Cotton Candy Cookies & Icing Recipes
The moment you’ve been waiting for has come! I hope you love these cotton candy cookies as much as our family and customers do! It’s like a trip back to the fair, with all the sweet memories!
A Sweet Treat: Cotton Candy Cookies
Ingredients
Cotton Candy Cookies
- 1 cup (227g) Unsalted Butter Room Temperature
- 1 cup (200g) Granulated White Sugar
- 3/4 tsp (3.7ml) Cotton Candy Super Strength Flavoring LorAnn brand
- 3/4 tsp (3.7ml) Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Egg Room Temperature
- 2 tsp (9.5g) Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp (3g) Salt
- 3 cups (360g) All-Purpose Flour
Cotton Candy Royal Icing
- 5 Tbsp Meringue Powder I use Genie's Dream
- 1 Tbsp Light Corn Syrup
- 3/4 tsp Clear Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Cotton Candy Super Strength Flavoring LorAnn brand
- 1 cup Water
- 2 lbs Powdered Sugar
Instructions
Cotton Candy Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- I use parchment paper on my cookies sheets and reuse them for all my batches that day.
- In your mixer bowl (or large bowl with hand-mixer) cream butter and sugar until smooth, at least 2 minutes.
- Beat in cotton candy flavoring, vanilla and egg.
- In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt and flour. Add to wet ingredient mixing bowl a little at a time.
- Mix until thoroughly blended. Dough should be pulling away from the bowl.
- Chilling the dough is not necessary! I have tried many different ways of rolling out dough and always come back to the old-fashioned way; a sheet of wax paper that has been floured.
- I usually divide the dough into 3 chunks and roll out each onto a floured surface and cut. In my experience, this dough works best for cookies at 1/4" thick. I use my Joseph Joseph rolling pin which does the measuring for me – genius!
- Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes, depending on size of cookie. I also suggest baking similar-sized cookies together.
- Cool cookies on cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to cooling rack.
Cotton Candy Royal Icing
- Combine meringue powder, light corn syrup, clear vanilla extract, cotton candy flavoring water in mixing bowl.
- Using a whisk, mix until ingredients are foamy. This is essentially reconstituting the egg whites in the meringue powder.
- Add the powdered sugar.
- Using your whisk, mix until powdered sugar is slightly incorporated (and won't fly everywhere)
- Beat for 5 minutes on medium-high
- Icing will thicken, whiten and will have soft peaks once ready
- Your Royal Icing will now be ready to color and thin to your desired consistencies for decorating!
Notes
With so many fun options to enjoy, dip or decorate these cotton candy cookies, I hope they bring a smile to you as well! Enjoy the memories of younger years!
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