Sugar Cookies Recipe – Cut Outs

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl with a hand mixer or using a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl as needed.
3. Meanwhile, crack the egg in a small bowl and add the vanilla extract and almond extract and whisk lightly with a fork, just to combine. With the mixer on low, add the egg mixture gradually and mix until thoroughly combined. Scrape the bowl at least once.
4. With the mixer on low speed and using a large spoon or scoop, gradually add flour mixture until the flour disappears and the mixture forms a slightly crumbly dough.
5. Place two sheets of plastic wrap onto the work surface and dump the dough onto one of the sheets. Gather the dough together using the plastic wrap and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half with a pastry cutter or knife and place one half of the dough on the other sheet of plastic wrap. Form each piece of dough into a ball and then flatten with your hand and smooth the dough into a disk about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate at least 1-2 hours or until firm. Dough can be refrigerated for a few days at this point.
6. Remove 1 chilled dough disk from fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before rolling. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place some flour into a small bowl for flouring the cookie cutters.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly flour work surface and rolling pin. Place dough on surface and very lightly flour dough. Be sure the dough is smooth around the edges before rolling. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 – ¼ inch thick. Turn as you roll and add more flour to surface and pin, as needed, to prevent the dough from sticking. If the edges begin to separate while rolling, just push them together. Note: If the dough is too cold, it will crack when you try to roll it and if it’s too warm it will be very sticky. Let cold dough rest for a few more minutes or gently work it with your hands. Soft dough should be returned to the fridge until firm.
8. Dip cookie cutter into flour, press cookie cutter into dough to cut cookies as close together as possible. Remove excess dough from in between cookies and set aside to roll. Place cookies on baking sheet or slide a thin, lightly floured spatula under the cookie, move it to baking sheet and release cookies onto sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Reroll excess dough gently and cut. Place baking sheet with uncooked cookies, into the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes. Chilled dough will help prevent spreading and over browning.
9. Bake chilled cookies for about 8 -11 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden brown. Cooking time depends on size of cookies – 1/8 inch thick should be done in about 8 minutes, but ovens vary and so will cooking times, so keep an eye on them.
10. Once cookies are done, place baking sheet on wire rack and allow cookies to cool completely, before frosting. Frost with my Royal Icing or Chocolate Ganache. Recipe by: Diane Kometa

Published on December 17, 2013by Dishin’ With Di