I love decorated sugar cookies. They add such a special and custom touch to a shower, birthday party or any event really. I used to make and sell custom royal icing cookies, and it was always so fun to dream up ideas with clients and to get creative. Now, I pretty much only make them for family events, but when I realized ‘Can’t Catch Me I’m Three!’ was the perfect theme for my son’s third party I knew I’d be making some fun race car cookies!
To make race car cookies you don’t need a speciality cookie cutter, but if you’re going to get one I thought this vintage car cookie cutter was adorable. I purchased the 3.5inch size. You can also get a classic car, or any other shape you prefer. If you only have basic shapes that’s fine too! Some of my favorite cookies are using classic shapes and making them look fancier.
Looking for more cookie inspiration?
Ingredients
- sugar
- unsalted butter
- vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- unbleached flour
- baking powder
- salt
- powdered sugar
- meringue powder
- gel food coloring in desired colors
Tips for Making Sugar Cookies
I used to make and sell royal icing cookies, and this is my recipe. It’s also included at the bottom of the post. But I have a few tips that will help while making your cookies from scratch.
- Chilling the dough after rolling it out is super important. It helps the cutters cut a clean cookie and the shapes to hold. Aim for a minimum of 30 minutes but up to an hour or two if preferrable.
- Use parchment paper! You can also use the reuseable silicone baking sheets, but I find rolling out on parchment paper is the easiest.
- After you’ve cut out your cookie shapes, flash freeze them before they go into the oven. This will help prevent spread. I usually bake my cookies for 10-11 minutes and have one tray in the oven and the other in the freezer.
- Keep it simple and don’t try to have too many shapes. If I’m doing 2 dozen cookies I limit it to 3 or 4 shapes.
Tips for Making Royal Icing
- I use a one-consistency royal icing with meringue powder. The full directions are included in the card below! Some people prefer using a separate consistency of icing for their outline and for the filling (or called a flood). You can play with recipes to find what you like.
Royal icing takes practice so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t go well the first few times you try it! You really just have to get comfortable with it and it’ll start to become really fun.
- Use a spatula and drag it through your icing. Count to 10 and if it’s filled back in it should be ready to use. If it comes back together too quickly it can get messy, and if it’s too stiff it can be hard to pipe.
- To fill a piping bag, put it in a drinking glass and pour the icing into it. Close the bag with a clip or by tying it, then cut a small tip off the bag when ready to use.
- Use a toothpick to pop air bubbles in your icing or to help smooth out any rough spots after piping it onto your cookie.
- Aim to keep your icing to 4-5 colors per set you’re working on. The more colors you have the more complicated and time consuming it can get.
- I recommend and use gel food coloring.
Race Car Cookie Designs
This race car cookie was such a hit at my son’s third birthday party, and it’s actually a pretty simple design!
- Start by outlining the body of the car, leaving room for the wheels to be filled in.
- Next, fill or flood your cookie with the color of your car. For the cars I used a few shades of blue, red and yellow since they were our main party colors.
- Using your white royal icing, fill in a dot in the middle of the race car cookie. You’ll let this dry completely and add the car details.
- Once the icing has dried completely, add tires with black royal icing.
- Add a steering wheel by making a line towards the hood of the car.
- Finally, write or pipe on (whichever you’re more comfortable with!) the number 3 on the size of the car. You can put any number for whatever age your kiddo is turning. Or even use their initials!
You can make these cookies a part of a birthday set, or just have them to celebrate any race lover in your life. Let me know of any questions in the comments!
FAQ
If stored in an airtight container the cookies will remain fresh for about 2 weeks.
I’ve found it saves time when mixes colors. It is a little thicker so it won’t run off the cookie.
Use a projector to trace specific fonts onto your cookie.
Recipe
Race Car Cookies
Make these race car cookies for any car enthusiast or party.
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter or 16 tbsp
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups unbleached flour
Royal Icing
- 4¾ cup powdered sugar 4-5 cups total, I typically start with 3 cups and check consistency as I go
- 2½ tablespoon meringue powder
- ¾ cup water add a little at a time until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
- 2-3 drops food coloring in black, white, blue, red and yellow or desired colors for car cookies.
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
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Beat together your sugar and butter until combined. You can use your stand-mixer or a hand-mixer.
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Add your eggs and combine. Add remaining ingredients and stir for 1-2 minutes for the dough to really come together. It should stick to the paddle of your mixer attachment when it’s ready and not be sticking to the bowl. *If it is sticking to the bowl you might need to add a bit more flour. It should come off easily with a wooden spoon.
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Divide into two parts and roll out your dough. I use two cookie sheets for this amount. Stack them with parchment paper in between the layers. Put in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. Allowing the dough to chill will help it set up and hold the shape of your cutouts.
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Once the dough has chilled, cut out your shapes and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take the first cookie sheet full of shapes and place in the freezer for 7-10 minutes. This minimizes spread.
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Bake for 9-12 minutes. This is a variable that’s really determined by your oven temp and cookie softness preference. Play with it a bit to see what works best for you. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet, the cookies will finish baking directly on the sheet.
Royal Icing
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Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder in bowl or stand-mixer. Allow to stir for 1-2 minutes to combine.
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Add your water. Run stand mixer for 2-3 minutes to combine.
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Separate into bowls as many colors as you’re planning to use, and add your gel food coloring. Mix colors and bag. Clip the end of the bags to begin decorating.
Race Car Design
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Start by outlining the body of the car, leaving room for the wheels to be filled in.
-
Next, fill or flood your cookie with the color of your car. For the cars I used a few shades of blue, red and yellow since they were our main party colors.
-
Using your white royal icing, fill in a dot in the middle of the race car cookie. You’ll let this dry completely and add the car details.
-
Once the icing has dried completely, add tires with black royal icing. Add a steering wheel by making a line towards the hood of the car.
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Finally, write or pipe on (whichever you’re more comfortable with!) the number 3 on the size of the car.
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