True Story: Everyone loves a good sugar cookie. Especially the complex cutie patootie ones in the shapes of animals, cartoon characters, monsters, flowers and other wacky shapes. I don't have a terrible sweet tooth and haven't mastered the fine art of baking, but I do love fun! I've found a well reviewed recipe with lots of tips from those lucky souls that can bake up a storm. The main two goals for rolled and cut cookies in my book are:
1) find a tried and true recipe for the dough and icing...and stick with it.
2) make whatever your little weird, sentimental, odd, quirky, creepy, cutesy heart can dream up!!!
Here I'll list the recipe I've found with adjusted ingredients (per the reviewers) and a bullet list of all the 'must do's' so we can all bake THE BEST ROLLED COOKIES. Here we go sugar...
SUGAR COOKIE
Prep Time: 20 Min / Cook Time: 8 Min / Ready In: 3 Hrs / Yield: 5 Doz
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
- 3 cups white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.
A FEW TIPS:
(A big thanks to the author of this recipe and all the nice reviewers to tweak it.)
- Put a sheet of baking parchment on cookie sheet, then ROLL THE DOUGH OUT DIRECTLY ON THE PARCHMENT-LINED COOKIE SHEET. After making the 'cut-outs', appropriately spaced on the dough, PEEL AWAY THE EXCESS DOUGH from around and between the 'cookies' and bake as directed. The parchment helps keep the bottoms of the cookies from getting too dark, eliminates any need for greasing the pan, allows you to remove the cookies from the sheet by simply sliding the parchment carefully off the side.
- High Humid Areas: always add between 1/4 - 1/2 cup more flour to cookie recipes
- If dough is sticky just simply keep dusting it with powdered sugar and you can continue to work with it while adding additional flavor.
- Chewier cookie, roll thicker and crunchier, thinner.
- WATCH these CLOSELY, and remove from oven when edges just begin to brown. If you leave them in too long, get them off the cookie sheet FAST- they will cool faster.
- Remember this yields 60 cookies! Cut the recipe in half or bake small batches at a time if not using for a party.
SUGAR COOKIE ICING
Ingredients
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- assorted food coloring
Directions
- In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
- Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.
Luau Party Surfboards
Baby Onesie with a Fox (aww!)
Cut Them into Flowers
Hearts on Sticks
and Attach Real Cotton Candy
