Southern Tea Cakes (Sugar Cookies) with Hard Icing

Cream butter and sugar for about five minutes with an electric mixer. It should be nice and fluffy. Add eggs. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Add vanilla. (Hint: don’t overwork the dough. Add the flour quickly.)

You may add food coloring along with the milk for even incorporation. Roll to desired thickness and place on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 375F or until firmly set. Do not brown.

You may serve this plain, or frost with the following meringue icing, which dries hard and is delicious.

Meringue Icing:
1 box powdered sugar (sift)
3 Tbsp meringue powder( available at craft stores and cake supply stores, sometimes Walmart)
6-8 Tbs. water. Start with the lesser amount.

Beat ingredients with electric mixer for 5 minutes. You just want it thin enough to spread. You may apply with a knife, small paint brush, or pipe it on. Allow to dry firmly before stacking cookies. The yield will vary according to size of cutters. You can get as many as 100 small cookies with this recipe.