The summary is:
Claire Saffitz shows how to make a basic sugar cookie and decorate it with royal icing. She explains the ingredients, tools and techniques for making the dough, cutting out shapes, baking, dipping and piping. She also gives some tips for avoiding common problems and creating different designs. She demonstrates her skills and personality as she makes the cookies and jokes about her perfectionism.
Here are some key facts extracted from the text:
1. The text is a transcript of a video by Claire Saffitz, who is showing how to make and decorate sugar cookies for the holidays.
2. The ingredients for the sugar cookie dough are all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, butter, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla extract and almond extract.
3. The dough needs to be chilled for at least an hour before rolling out and cutting into shapes with cookie cutters.
4. The cookies are baked at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes until golden around the edges and pale in the center.
5. The ingredients for the royal icing are powdered sugar, egg whites, lemon juice, salt and vanilla extract.
6. The royal icing can be used in two ways: dipping the cookies into a thin icing for full coverage, or piping a thick icing for outlines and patterns.
7. The royal icing hardens as it dries and allows the cookies to be stacked and stored.