.: Christmas Sugar Cookies

It's high time to get ready for Christmas.
I used the same recipe as the one for Halloween, but, it was in French!
I'm just going to translate the recipe for you.

SUGAR COOKIES (for about 30 cookies)
The recipe:

Butter	1 cup	8oz	Beat together until light.
White Sugar	¾ cup	5.3oz
Light Brown Sugar	¼ cup	1.8oz
Orange or Lemon zest	1
Eggs	2 large		Add and beat until combine.
Vanilla extract	2 teaspoon
Flour (all purpose)	3 cups	13.8oz	Mix in a separate bowl and add.
Salt	½ teaspoon
Baking Powder	1 teaspoon

ROYAL ICING

The recipe:

Egg White	2 large		Beat together.
Fresh Lemon Juice	2 teaspoon
Confectioners sugar	3 cups	11.6	Add and beat on low speed until combined.
Almond extract	½ teaspoon		Add and combine.

Sugar cookies use very simple ingredients, so choose a good butter (I'm using a European style one).
To give more taste, I'm using brown sugar in addition of white sugar, and I'm adding orange or lemon zest as well.
Then it's a matter of good organization if you don't want to have a very colorful mess in your kitchen.

Gather your tools:

Bowls according to colors desired
Food coloring or gel paste (this is what I'm using)
Pastry bags
Tips (I'm using #1 and #2 to pipe a border and go around the outside edge of the cookies)
Q-tips for the very small details and to get rid of air bubbles that can appear in the royal icing
And protect your working table with plastic!

Start with the borders.
To do so, you need to adjust the consistency of the royal icing by adding sugar, for a sightly thicker consistency.
Do all the cookies' borders, by the time you are done, it will have dried up and you will be able to cover the surface of the cookies.