Hibiscus Rose Glazed Sugar Cookies

1Cream the butter and sugar. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. The mixture should look noticeably lighter in color and hold a soft swirl when you lift the paddle. Start with butter that dents under a finger but still feels cool, because greasy butter in a warm kitchen makes cookies spread.

2Add the egg and extracts. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract until fully combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. The batter should look smooth and glossy, with no slick pools of butter at the bottom. Stop as soon as it comes together, since extra beating whips in air that makes cookies puff and then sag.

3Add the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl, then add to the mixer on low speed, mixing just until the dough comes together with no dry streaks. The dough will look crumbly for a moment and then pull into a soft mass. Stop the mixer the second the last flour disappears, because overworking develops gluten and makes tougher cookies.

4Chill. Divide the dough in half, pat each half into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days). This keeps the cookies from spreading into puddles in the oven. The dough should feel firm and cold before you roll it. In a warm South Florida kitchen a chilled disk softens fast, so keep the second disk in the fridge while you work with the first.

5Roll and cut. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll one disk of dough to ¼-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds with the cookie cutter. Transfer to the prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Turn the dough a quarter turn between passes of the rolling pin so it does not stick, and aim for even thickness all the way to the edges. Press the scraps together gently and re-roll them once, chilling them first if they feel soft.

6Bake. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the edges are just barely set and the centers still look slightly underdone. The tops should have lost their wet shine, with only a hint of color at the edges. If your oven runs hot in the back, rotate the sheet halfway through. These cookies firm up as they cool, and overbaking is the main way they lose their tenderness. Repeat with the second disk of dough.

7Cool completely. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool all the way before glazing. Cookies this tender crack if you move them while still hot, so let the full 5 minutes pass first. Before glazing, touch the underside of a cookie to confirm it feels completely cool, since warm cookies melt the glaze into a thin slick.

8Steep the hibiscus. While the cookies cool, pour the boiling water over the dried hibiscus flowers and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain, pressing the flowers to extract all the ruby-colored liquid, and let cool to room temperature. The liquid should be a deep ruby red and the flowers pale and spent once pressed. Warm liquid thins the glaze, so make sure it feels cool before you use it.

9Make the glaze. Whisk the powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of the cooled hibiscus liquid, the rose water, and a pinch of salt until smooth and pourable. Add more hibiscus liquid, a teaspoon at a time, if the glaze is too thick to drizzle. Break up any lumps in the powdered sugar first, since they are hard to whisk out once the liquid goes in. A ribbon lifted on the whisk should sink back into the surface after a few seconds.

10Glaze and set. Spoon or drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies and let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes, until the glaze sets to a matte finish. Set the cookies on a wire rack over a sheet of parchment so drips are easy to clean up. The glaze is set when you can touch it lightly without leaving a print, and in muggy weather that can take longer than 20 minutes.