Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 g
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 227 g
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled (please see notes) 344 g
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
For the Icing
- 4-5 tablespoon milk 60-75 ml
- 3 cups powdered sugar 390 g
- Sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
For the Sugar Cookies
- Add butter and granulated sugar to a large bowl. Cream together until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until pale in color and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
- Then add in the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix until combined.
- Form the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a well floured surface roll the dough out until it's ¼ inch thick. (If the dough is too cold and difficult to work with, let it sit for 10-20 minutes then roll it out.)
- Cut out cookies using cookie cutters.
- Transfer the cut cookies to the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Chill the cut cookies for at least 1 hour, or until ready to bake. (You can chill the cookies together on one or two baking sheets, and then separate them out when ready to bake.)
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (Line another baking sheet with parchment paper if the cookies are together on one sheet.)
- Arrange the chilled cookie cutouts about 2 inches apart from each other.
- Bake regular sized cookies, that are roughly 3 ½ inches for 10-12 minutes. Bake mini cookies, that are roughly 2 inches for 6-8 minutes. Watch them closely to make sure the edges don't get too browned. They should be a light golden color.
For the Icing
- Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl.
- Add in 4 tablespoon of milk and combine. If the icing is too thick add in the remaining tablespoon of milk.
- Add icing to a piping bag fitted with a very small circular tip, or just cut a tiny bit off the end of the piping bag.
- Decorate the cookies as you wish. Let the icing dry, then serve!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days for the best taste.
Notes
Yields roughly 32 3 ½-4 inch cookies or 64 2 inch cookies.
Measure your flour properly. This is always my #1 baking tip. Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour. This will always lead to using too much flour. (Trust me, I've learned the hard way that I need to measure properly!) Instead, sprinkle spoonfuls of flour into your measuring cup and swipe excess flour off with the back of a knife. Or better yet, weigh your flour. 1 cup of flour equals 125 grams.
*Store left overs in an air tight container for up to four days.
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