Happy 50th anniversary Walt Disney World! Disney World is such a special place for me. I love being surrounded by the magic and wonder and I have been so lucky to be able to experience it throughout my life. While I wish I was there in front of Cinderella’s Castle today, I’m celebrating at home with these magical EARidescent Celebration Cookies! These delicious vanilla sugar cookies are topped with colorful royal icing and shimmering gold!
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For these cookies, I was inspired by the icons of Disney World and the beautiful EARidescent color palette that Walt Disney World is using for the 50th anniversary.
Start by making the sugar cookie dough. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until well combined.
Transfer the dough to flat workspace and shape into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Cut the cookies out using a selection of cookie cutters and place onto parchment lined baking sheets. For my cookies, I used a Mickey shaped cookie cutter, numbers, Mickey balloons, bows, and a castle. I used a Mickey cutter I had from a set, but there are lots of options on Amazon. I used the 5 and 0 from a Wilton cookie cutter set. The bows and castle cutters are from sets from shopDisney. There are similar bow cookie cutters and castle cookie cutters on Amazon as well. The Mickey balloons are from Best Box Bakery, a small shop that makes a lot of cute Disney cookie cutters.
Chill the cut out cookies for 15 minutes in the refrigerator before baking at 350 F for 8 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown. Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
When you’re ready to decorate, start by making the royal icing. Combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder in a medium bowl. Add the warm a water and beat until combined. Then, beat on high speed until the icing is glossy and holds stiff peaks. Stir in additional warm water, a tablespoon at a time, until icing creates loose ribbons when drizzled with a spoon. Aim to have the icing ribbons disappear back into the bowl within 10 seconds of being picked up with the spoon.
Separate the icing into three bowls. Cover the bowls when you’re not using the icing so it doesn’t dry out. Next, color your icing by adding a few drops of navy blue gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stirring until well combined. Add a few drops of the pink gel food coloring another bowl and a few drops of purple gel food coloring to the final bowl, again stirring until well combined. For these cookies, I used Americolor navy blue and deep pink and Wilton purple.
To make the marble design, scoop a couple spoonfuls of pink icing into a bowl. Drizzle some navy and purple icing on top of the pink icing, making sure not to overlap too much. Dip a cookie into the bowl, pressing into the marbled icing. Remove, gently shaking off any excess icing. Repeat with the desired number of cookies, adding more icing as needed.
To pipe the icing onto the cookies, transfer the icings into piping bags. For these cookies I used tipless piping bags. Pipe an outline around each cookie and then fill in using the desired color of icing. Let the icing dry completely. Once the icing is dry, spray with edible gold spray or dip a clean paintbrush into the edible gold cake paint and speckle the cookies with the paint. Let dry before serving.
Enjoy these magical EARidescent Celebration Cookies! Happy 50th anniversary Walt Disney World!
Walt Disney World EARidescent Celebration Cookies
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons meringue powder
- ¼ – ½ cup warm water
- navy blue gel food coloring
- purple gel food coloring
- pink gel food coloring
- edible gold color spray
- edible gold cake paint
Equipment
- selection of cookie cutters (mickey, castle, balloon, numbers, etc.)
- tipless piping bags
- clean food only paint brush
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
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In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
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In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
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Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
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Add the flour mixture and beat until well combined.
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Transfer dough to a flat work surface and press into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
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Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut into shapes using desired cookie cutters.
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Place cut out cookies on prepared baking sheets and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
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Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are light golden.
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Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Royal Icing
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
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Add ¼ cup of warm water and beat on low speed until well combined. Beat on high speed until glossy and the icing holds stiff peaks.
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Stir in additional warm water, a tablespoon at a time, until icing creates loose ribbons when drizzled with a spoon. Aim to have the icing ribbons disappear back into the bowl within 10 seconds of being picked up with the spoon.
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Separate the icing into three bowls. Cover the bowls when you’re not using the icing so it doesn’t dry out.
-
Add a few drops of navy blue gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stir until well combined. Add a few drops of the pink gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stir until well combined. Add a few drops of purple gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stir until well combined.
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To make the marble design, scoop a couple spoonfuls of pink icing into a bowl. Drizzle some navy and purple icing on top of the pink icing, making sure not to overlap too much.
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Dip a cookie into the bowl, pressing into the marbled icing. Remove, gently shaking off any excess icing. Repeat with the desired number of cookies, adding more icing as needed.
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To pipe the icing onto the cookies, transfer the icings into piping bags. Pipe an outline around each cookie and then fill in using the desired color of icing.
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Let the icing dry completely before adding the gold spray or gold paint flecks.
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Once the icing is dry, spray with edible gold spray or dip a clean paintbrush into the edible gold paint and speckle the cookies with the paint.
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Let dry before serving.