The Best Sugar Cookies!

With Christmas right around the corner,it is time for all home cooks to get to baking! While searching for a new sugar cookie recipe, this one popped into my sights. The recipe below is enough for 5 dozen cookies, but if you don't want to make that many, just half the recipe.

www.allrecipes.com (Jill Saunders)

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely

If you are rolling out your dough to use cookie cutters, I recommend chilling the dough overnight. There were still issues with my rolling pin. The dough was very sticky and I ended up using my hands to flatten the dough. This worked just as well if not better than the traditional rolling pin.

Instead of using icing, I used colorful sprinkles on the cookies. Apply the sprinkles BEFORE you put into the oven. This will help to set them and keep them from falling off.

If you are set on using icing there are two that I would recommend. The first being the easiest, confectioners sugar and milk. I always play by ear when doing this. Add about a 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar and a teaspoon of milk. You will need to adjust according to how thick you want the icing. This does seem to be very sweet, but adults and children love it! Not to mention it is very easy to make.

The second type of icing is called "Royal". You will need egg whites, cream of tartar and confectioners sugar. There are various recipes for this and I suggest searching the internet for one that suits what you are looking for.

I hope you enjoy the cookies and if you do try this recipe, please let me know how they turn out!

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