If you are here… you are looking for my sugar cookie recipe. I use this one along with tips that I found on YouTube. I’ll save the story of how I got here and the trials and tribulations (both failures and successes) and go straight to the recipe. Enjoy!
Sugar Cookie Dough Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 sticks room temperature unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract (or flavor/extract of your choice. I use Orange)
Sugar Cookie Dough Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- Sift together flour (3cups), baking powder (1 teaspoon) add salt (1/2 teaspoon), set aside.
Cream Butter and Sugar
- In a mixing bowl cream together room temperature butter (1 cup) and sugar (1 cup), about 5 minutes, scrape the bowl twice. Butter creamed with sugar should be light and creamy in color.
- In a small dish whisk together egg (1) and vanilla extract (1 tablespoon).
- Gradually add egg mixture into butter mixture. Beating well, till combined about a minute.
- Lower the speed of your mixer to low. Gradually add flour mixture. Scrape the bowl well after the last addition and beat on low speed until flour is blended in.
- Dust a a large mixing bowl with 1 tbsp. flour. Scrape the cookie dough into a bowl. Gather dough together. Using your hands knead the cookie dough for about 10-20 seconds, until dough comes together. Shape into a disk.
- Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Cut cookie dough disk in half and roll out as many cookies as you can. Gather scraps and add the scraps to the other half of cookie dough disk you set aside. Re-roll and repeat until you are done with all the cookies. Place the cookies on a light colored baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (I use silicone baking mats). Chill the cut outs in the fridge for about 10 minutes, or in the freezer for 5 to prevent spreading as they bake.
Bake
- Bake for 10-11 minutes, depending on the oven, turn the sheet once half way through the baking.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, transfer to cooling rack.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze undecorated cookies between pieces of wax paper in a large freeze safe container, for up to 3 months.
- Decorate cookies as desired with royal icing.
Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 2lbs {1 bag} confectioner’s sugar
- 5 Tablespoons meringue powder
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Scant ¾ cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla (or flavor/extract of your choice. I use 1/2 tablespoon vanilla and 1/2 tablespoon of orange).
Add the dry ingredients first.
- Use your mixer’s paddle attachment to incorporate the sugar, cream of tartar and meringue powder.
- Add the extract to the measuring cup and then add water to the slightly below the top of your measuring cup, and add it to the dry ingredients while mixing.
- Continue to mix it at low speed until it is incorporated about 6 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl twice in between mixing for 1-2 minutes. (Mixing times are approximate.)
- 4. Avoid using extract with oil, only alcohol-based extracts as oil based will keep icing from setting.
Royal icing will keep at least a month. It can be left at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.