Sugar Cookies

 I had some little elves in the kitchen last night. A sugar rush before bed is not the best idea! The youngest proved to be a master in cookie thief!

Sugar cookies are so much fun, you can really have some fun with them.

You can use the following recipe or any sugar cookie recipe and use some themed cutters. It is really important to follow all the steps! The dough needs to rest in the fridge and you can make it a few days before you need the cookies. The step to freeze the cookies is really vital to helping the cookies retain their shape. The best baking tip I've heard in a long time is lining your cookie sheet with parchment paper, it makes clean up so much easier! 

Sugar Cookies

Makes about 18 -24 4-inch cookies

Ingredients:

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) / 8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract.

Directions:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

2. Using an electric mixer, put butter and sugar in a bowl with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

3. Mix in eggs and vanilla.

4. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture.

5. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk and wrap individually in plastic wrap.

6. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour but ideally overnight.

7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

8. Remove one disk from the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

9. Roll out the dough until 1/4 inch thick.

10. Cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps and repeat with the remaining disk.

11. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place cookies in the freezer for about 15 minutes, until very firm.

12. Remove the baking sheet from freezer and transfer shapes to oven. I have 2 cookie sheets and I switch the cookies on the parchment paper that way I'm not putting a hot cookie sheet in the freezer or a cold one in the oven. Again the parchment paper is genius. 

13. Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 - 18 minutes.

14. Let cool on wire racks.

15. Decorate with royal icing, sprinkles or buttercream.