Monday, December 15, 2008

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.

2 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

These look wonderful! Great and colorful too!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, number totally depends on size, which can be so different. But I LOVE your cookies! The colors are vibrant and I'd love to eat one right now! yum! great job!