Who doesn’t love a good sugar cookie? And, with the added bonus of icing?

I know I do. But, I love sugar. The love affair began at a young age, and although I’ve managed to reign it in quite a bit over the years (mostly because of a failing metabolism), I still enjoy probably more than my fair share.

I’ve tried several sugar cookie recipes, and have finally tweaked a foolproof one…. one that I love, and one that loves me back. And, you can never go wrong if you find a recipe that loves you back. You need all the lovin’ you can get when you’re a graduate wife.

SUGAR COOKIES

• 1.5 cups of butter (Note: use real butter – yes, I have an obsession with using real butter)
• 5 eggs
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of salt
• 4.5 cups of flour

With a mixer (hand or stand), cream butter and sugar till smooth.

Beat in eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour and combine. Cover and chill dough in refrigerator for 2 hours, or even overnight! (Note: for less mess, I use a glass/plastic bowl to do all my mixing in, slapping a lid on top so it goes straight from mixing into the fridge).

Once dough has chilled, roll dough onto floured surface into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut into shapes. (The ones photographed below are from a recent baby shower).

Preheat over to 400F (200 C), and bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 5-7 minutes. Do not let them get brown.

Once cookies have baked, cool on racks or wax paper.  DO NOT ICE until completely cooled.

ICING

(I would like to point out that while I enjoy baking, I am less than amateur when it comes to icing and decorating cookies. I definitely think there is a cake/cookie decorating class in my future)!

• 1.5 cups of confectioner’s sugar (or icing sugar in the UK)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• a dash of almond extract (or if you prefer the icing to have a bit more of an almond flavor, add more – I usually add 1/2 tsp)
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of milk (can add more, depending on the desired icing consistency)

Cream sugar and butter with mixer (hand or stand). Combine rest of ingredients till smooth. Depending on the consistency of your icing, you can either ‘paint’ your cookies, or just glob on loads of icing. I chose to paint my cookies, rolling on the icing till smooth, allowing them to dry over night.

For the baby shower, I made 2 batches of icing, dividing them into 2 separate bowls. Once divided, I added 1 drop of red food coloring in one bowl to make pink icing, and 1 drop of blue food coloring in the other bowl to make light blue icing. I used a decorating bag with a round tip 12 for the piping.

This is where your creative side can come in! You literally can take this recipe and use it for ANY occasion….Christmas, Halloween, birthdays…the sky is the limit!

Enjoy!

-Mandy