Santa skillet cookie is one giant sugar cookie baked in a cast iron pan, cut into eight wedges and piped with red and white icing so a ring of Santa faces appears. That makes it a centerpiece dessert for a Christmas party or family night, since you serve the whole circle and let people spot them.
Cut the wedges after exactly 30 minutes, while the cookie is still warm and a hot knife slides through soft butter. Leave it to cool completely first and the sugar sets hard, so the blade cracks the circle apart instead of scoring it.
The picture only works because the design spans the cut lines, with hats meeting in a center circle and mittens straddling each join. Decorating happens after the cookie is cut, not before, which is the opposite of how most iced cookies are made.
Buy by weight, not by cup. The list says 8 ounces of confectioners sugar is about 1 cup, but 8 ounces is 227 grams and that is closer to 2 cups. Measure a single cup and you end up with half the royal icing this amount of piping needs.
Santa Skillet Cookie
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalOne giant sugar cookie baked in a skillet, cut into eight wedges and piped so that a ring of Santa faces appears across the whole circle.
Ingredients
Unsalted butter, for the skillet
One 17.5-ounce package prepared sugar cookie mix, half used here
8 ounces confectioners’ sugar, which is about 2 cups and not the 1 cup the original lists
1 tablespoon meringue powder
Red food coloring
Red sanding sugar
8 edible pearl dragees
Directions
FAQs
Is it 1 cup or 2 cups of confectioners sugar?
Two. Eight ounces weighs 227 grams, and a cup of confectioners sugar is only about 120, so the note in the original is off by half. Weigh it if you can. Outlines, flooding, borders and eight beards get through far more icing than one cup holds.
What do I do with the other half of the dough?
The recipe says to reserve it for another use and then never gives one. Bake a second skillet cookie while the pan is hot, or press it into a disc, wrap it and freeze for up to three months. A full batch would need an 11 inch skillet to bake at the same thickness.
Why heat the knife in boiling water?
A hot blade melts the butter in its path instead of forcing through set sugar, so the cuts stay clean and the wedges hold their circle. Dry it before each cut, because water smears the surface. Reheat it if the cookie starts to drag.
Can I use homemade dough instead of a mix?
Yes, and you want roughly 330 grams pressed into an 8 inch skillet for a cookie just under half an inch thick. A dough that does not spread works best, since the design needs a flat even surface. Our sugar cookies dough is the right one.
How far ahead can I decorate it?
A day, kept uncovered at room temperature so the icing stays crisp, and never in the fridge where it weeps. Keep the wedges together in their circle until serving so the pattern reads. Our classic shortbread is scored before baking if you would rather cut nothing afterwards.
