I have a confession: I am not a professional cookie decorator. I’m a normal every day baker just like you that LOVES to bake. So when I say these sugar cookies are easy and anyone can make these, you gotta trust me on this. Is is one of the best sugar cookies recipe I’ve ever tasted: not to sweet but sweet enough, crisp so they hold their shape and perfect to decorate with all types of edible toppings.
Have you ever made cookies that fly off the plate before the icing is even done hardening? That’s what happened to these cookies. I made a double batch – one to make into Halloween cookies (seen below) and one for my up coming Christmas Cookie party our family is hosting in a few weeks.
I had all my cookies laid out on cookie sheets when the kids came home from school. I only had a chance to yell “Don’t touch the Halloween ones!” before I heard “No Way!” come from the kitchen. My son’s jacket wasn’t even off and two cookies were gone. Then two more disappeared after the jacket came off.
My daughter came home with my husband and another two cookies are grabbed as after school treats. Then my daughter comes to me and tells me Daddy wants another cookie. Ha!! It’s been a while since I made cookies, can you tell? I quickly packed up the Halloween cookies so they didn’t get grabbed accidentally (I had just enough for the kids in my daughter’s class). Needless to say I think I’ll be making more cookies before my Christmas party. I knew I should have made 3 batches.
Normally I only use colored sugar to decorate these delicious cookies and it’s so much faster and easier, however, this time I wanted to make them extra special and used the Royal Icing recipe from Joy of Baking. It was perfect!
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Butter , softened
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Cream of tartar
- ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
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Cream butter and sugar in large bowl. Add egg and vanilla. Beat.
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Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Stir into batter.
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Roll out ¼ inch thick on lightly floured surface or use same trick mentioned in shortbread cookie’s recipe. Cut into rounds or different shapes. This is a great recipe to make those Christmas or Halloween cut-outs with.
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Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles before baking, or decorate baked cookies with icing.
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Bake on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet in 350° F oven for about 10 - 13 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.