I am always so excited to make sugar cookies. To be more precise, I’m actually really excited to decorate the cookies. (Mind you, I’m awful at it. A 6 year old would beat me by a mile in a cookie decorating contest). But it is so fun to see the cookies transform from flour, sugar, and butter into cute little Christmas trees, snowmen, and candy canes. I used a traditional sugar cookie recipe from Cooking Light.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decorations:
Cookie cutters
Sprinkles
Other edible decorations
Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl, stir with a whisk.
Add sugar and butter in a large bowl, beating with a mixer until combined.
Add vanilla and eggs.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mine looked very very crumbly. So if yours looks like this, don’t panic.
Add the mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.
Refrigerate for an hour. Unwrap the ball after an hour. Preheat the over to 375. Split the dough in half, rolling out out half of the dough on a floured surface.
Using any cookie cutter you have, cut out shapes and place on a cookie sheet two inches apart lined with parchment paper.
Repeat with remaining dough. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until lightly browned along the edges. Cool on pans for 5 minutes then remove and place on wire racks.
When completely cooled, prepare the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk stirring until smooth. I added the icing to a squeeze bottle (like a ketchup bottle) but you can also add it to a ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to make piping easier. Decorate the cookies however you like.
Allow to dry overnight.
Hehe. Aren’t they fun? You can use whatever you want. I happened to be a bit, well, sprinkle happy.
Oh yeah, they taste pretty darn good too 🙂
