Cutout Vanilla Sugar Cookie
Sugar cookies are synonymous with the holiday season, but really, they’re great ANYTIME of the year. The key is getting a really good sugar cookie recipe, and this one is the BEST!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp milk
Royal Icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup meringue powder
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cookies
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer combine butter and sugar. Mix to combine to a paste consistency, but not light and fluffy. Add in vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix to combine. Add in flour and mix to combine.
- Divide dough in half and wrap in saran wrap and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes. I like to press the dough down while inside the saran wrap instead of leaving in a ball so that it is easier to roll out.
- Take half of the dough and roll out onto a well floured surface. If the dough is super sticky, then you may need to chill the dough for longer.
- Cut into desired shapes and place onto a baking sheet. If you want to prevent too much spreading, Place the baking sheet into the freezer for 10-15 minutes (or refrigerator for 30 minutes).
- Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
Royal Icing
- In a stand mixer bowl, add powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
- Slowly add in warm water (make sure it is warm this is what helps activate the meringue powder). Mix on speed 1 until fully incorporated and then increase to speed 6 for 5 minutes.
- This will result in a very thick and fluffy royal icing, if you want more of a cookie decorating consistency add in additional water.
- I like to use 10-15 second consistency icing to decorate cookies. This means if I mix up my icing it will take 10-15 seconds before the icing settles back to smooth.
