The best sugar cookies I've ever had!

In my last post I mentioned that I was making cut-out sugar cookies.  Well let me tell you, they turned out great, if I do say so myself!  Probably the best I've ever eaten.  I tried a recipe that I found at www.RealSimple.com, and it was "real simple"!  (I'll give the recipe to you at the end of this post.) I never really liked making cut out cookies because it always took so long and was so messy, with having to keep rolling the dough in flour and the cookie cutters would stick to the dough, and so would the rolling pin.  Well, I have found the answer!  I read somewhere that you should roll the dough between two pieces of wax paper, so I gave it a try.  It was a miracle!  No extra flour all over the place, nothing sticking, so EASY, and NO MESS!!!  I am now a converted cut-out cookie baker!

So here's what they looked like when they came out of the oven.  I just made snowflakes (I had gotten a nice cookie cutter and wanted to try it out.), and they were pretty big.  I think I got about 35 cookies out of the batch, but you could get a lot more if you made smaller cookies.

And then I decorated them!  I took the easy way out on this too, but they turned out quite pretty.  I just used the Wilton Cookie Icing that I got at a craft store.  The directions said to microwave the bottle, but the icing came out just fine and much easier to manage without heating it up.  I just drew lines on the cookies, then added blue sprinkles, and white sugar sprinkles, and even some colored jimmies.  It was a lot of fun! Needless to say, they have all been eaten (and not all by me, surprisingly enough!), so I plan to make some more over winter break.  This time I will dust off some of my old cookie cutters and give them a try!

Okay, here's the recipe:

Sugar Cookies


Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
3 ½ cups flour
Decorations (optional but highly recommended!)

Directions:
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla and salt.
Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined (do not overmix). Shape into a 1-inch-thick disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Between 2 pieces of wax paper, roll the dough ¼ inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes, rerolling the scraps as necessary. Place one inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Let cool slightly, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Decorate as desired. Eat, and share if you must!