Another tried-and-true cookie recipe I use each Christmas that really needed an updated post!
The best cut-out cookie I’ve ever had. Easy dough to work with, and delicious depth of flavor. I love them.
The Most Fabulous Sugar Cookies
(Good Things Catered – alas, she no longer blogs)
1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp lemon zest
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Powdered sugar, for rolling
Directions for Cookies
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Cream butter and sugars in a mixer for 5 minutes.
-Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.
-Add vanilla, almond, and lemon zest.
-Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt a little at a time.
-Do not over mix, this process should take about one minute.
-Chill dough for up to a week in the fridge, or roll out and cut right away.
-Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake cookies for 7-8 minutes.
-Wait until cookies are cooled before icing.
Ashlee says this makes 80, and Katie got about 30 on the recipe I saw on her blog. I did small-ish cut-outs and got about 50. It really depends on your thickness and the size of your cookie, how many you’ll get.
Royal Icing
(Bake at 350 – don’t hesitate to visit her site and read her royal icing tutorial!!)
(This will cover 2-3 dozen 3.5 inch cookies in 2 colors; I usually double this recipe.)
4 TBSP meringue powder (You can purchase this in the cake isles at AC Moore)
scant 1/2 c. water
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp light corn syrup
few drops clear extract (optional – with this cookie recipe I include almond extract)
Directions for Icing
– Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.
– Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)
– Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired. ( I think the corn syrup helps keep the icing shiny.)
– Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.
– (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.
– Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.
– This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding."
