Soft Sugar Cookies (updated 12/7/23)
Rolled out for Christmas
July 4th
Iced
2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, room temp
1/4 cup milk, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Mix in milk and vanilla.
Stir in flour mixture, do not overmix.
Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1-2 hours. (can refrigerate for up to 5 days - let dough stand at room temp for 15-20 minutes if too stiff to roll out)
Roll out to 1/4 inch on floured surface, cut into shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheets.
Decorate with colored sugars, sprinkles, nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, gumdrops, etc. before baking, or icing (below) after baking.
Bake at 400 for 6-8 minutes, depending on size and thickness of cookie, or just until edges start to brown. Do not overbake.
Let cool 2 minutes, remove to wire racks or paper towels to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies
Royal Icing (with Meringue Powder)
1 pound 10x sugar
3 T meringue powder
6 T warm water
assorted food coloring
In a bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and warm water until stiff peaks form, about 5 to 7 minutes. If icing is too thick, add a couple of drops of water. If icing is too thin, add additional confectioners' sugar; continue beating until desired consistency.
Tint icing with desired food coloring. Using pastry bag with decorator tip, decorate as desired.
Makes 3 cups