Well, I promised you cookie recipes and what better way to start than with the classic sugar cookie! I’ve been making these for a long time and for a long time I hated making them, because I honestly thought you had to mix cookie dough by hand! And believe me, there’s a lot of mixing for these and it is not easy when doing it by hand! The first time I used the mixer for them, it was a whole new world! OK, it may not take much to impress me.
That said, to me these are the quintessential Christmas cookie – cut out in shapes, decorated with colored sugars or sprinkles (they can be iced – I’m more a sprinkle person than an icing person – but feel free to ice them if you’d like). They store well too. I got the basic recipe from a cookbook my mom had when I was a kid (which may have called for hand mixing because no one had a stand mixer when I was a kid (#old)!) Rolling and cutting them does take a little work, but they’re worth the effort – just sweet enough to go well with coffee, tea, or cocoa, and they look so pretty!
Sugar Cookies – makes 4-6 dozen, depending on size of cookie cutters
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl (the bowl of your stand mixer if you have one), combine softened butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour a little at a time and mix well after each addition (start on low unless you enjoy covering your kitchen in flour). Chill for at least an hour (two is better if you can).
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough – I generally use about a good handful per sheet of cookies, but I don’t know the size of your rolling area or cookie sheet on a floured cutting board with a floured rolling pin (keep a small pile of flour handy because you’ll be using it – you will need to clean the kitchen when you’re done). The rolled-out dough should be thin – no more than 1/8″. Keep the rest of the dough in the fridge. Cut shapes with cookie cutters (dip the cutters in flour too). If you’re not icing the cookies, decorate the shapes with colored sugar. You’ll notice when you’re cutting that there is “leftover” dough. You can put that in another bowl, put it back in the fridge, form it into a ball and re-roll for more cookies, but only do that once more – I’ve tried rolling a third time and the cookies get tough.
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely and store in a tightly closed container.
