Christmas Cookies 2008: Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Katie and Ashlee are right -- these ARE the best sugar cookies! They were super-duper easy to work with, roll out, cut, etc, and they're very tasty as well!

I wasn't thrilled with the icing recipe I arbitrarily chose for these guys...so if you have a royal icing recipe that's tried-and-true, please pass it my way.

You'll also notice I have no patience for decorating. I like to BAKE. Not DECORATE. This results in my sugar cookies looking like a 4 year old probably iced them :-)

I'm okay with that.

The Most Fabulous Sugar Cookies

(Good Things Catered by way of Ashlee)

1 1/2 cups butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 Tbsp lemon zest

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Powdered sugar, for rolling

Directions

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-Cream butter and sugars in a mixer for 5 minutes.

-Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.

-Add vanilla, almond, and lemon zest.

-Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt a little at a time.

-Do not over mix, this process should take about one minute.
-Chill dough for up to a week in the fridge, or roll out and cut right away.

-Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake cookies for 7-8 minutes.

-Wait until cookies are cooled before icing.

Ashlee says this makes 80, and Katie got about 30 on the recipe I saw on her blog. I did small-ish cut-outs and got about 50. It really depends on your thickness and the size of your cookie.