Basketball Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
These homemade basketball sugar cookies are perfect for birthdays, team celebrations, or game day treats! They have a soft, buttery texture and hold their shape beautifully, making them ideal for decorating with smooth royal icing. I’ll show you how to make them step by step—even if you’re new to cookie decorating!
Ingredients
Ingredients for Sugar Cookies:
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Ingredients for Royal Icing:
- 2 tablespoons meringue powder
- 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 5 1/2 tablespoons water room temperature
Instructions
How to Make the Sugar Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix it into the wet ingredients until a dough forms. If the dough is sticky, pop it in the fridge for about 1 hour—it makes rolling and cutting so much easier!
- Sprinkle some flour on your counter and roll out the dough to about ¼-inch thick.
- Use a round cookie cutter to cut out basketball-shaped cookies.
- Place them on a baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes before baking—this helps them keep their shape!
- Bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes or until the edges are just slightly golden.
- Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
How to Make Royal Icing
- In a bowl, combine meringue powder, powdered sugar, and water.
- Beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
- Divide the icing into two bowls and color one orange and one black using gel food coloring.
- The consistency should be thin enough to spread smoothly but thick enough to hold its shape. Adjust with a little extra water (to thin) or powdered sugar (to thicken).
- Pipe a thin orange outline around each cookie.
- Fill in the center with slightly thinner orange icing and let it dry.
- Once set, use black icing to pipe the basketball lines.
- For Smooth Icing: If you see air bubbles, pop them with a toothpick and gently shake the cookie to help the icing settle!
Notes
Storing & Make-Ahead Tips
- Make Ahead: Bake cookies up to 3 days in advance and store them in an airtight container.
- Storage: Keep decorated cookies at room temperature in a single layer for up to a week.
- Freezing: Freeze undecorated cookies for up to 3 months. If freezing decorated cookies, let the icing harden completely before stacking with parchment paper in between.