With the holidays coming up upon us I thought I would share this recipe. I have Autumn cookie cutters I use, but any ol' cutters will do. :loveya:
Sugar Cookies:
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups flour
Baking Directions:
Preheat oven to 400º.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer; beat in egg and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. * Dough will be very stiff; blend last cup of flour by hand.
Divide dough into two balls. Roll each ball into a circle about 1`8“ thick. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters and transfer to ungreased cookie sheet.
**Bake cookies on middle rack of oven until lightly browned (4 to 12 minutes, depending on size and shape of cookie).
* I don't use my hands, I let my Kitchen Aid do ALL the work and it seems to handle it just fine.
** How long to bake them is tricky. I checked on them after 6 minutes and they still needed a little more time, so I gave them 2 extra minutes, however, that amount of time turned them to brown for my liking (hubby liked them that way) I ended up setting the next batch for 7 minutes and they came out just perfect.
Decorating Directions:
When cookies are cool, transfer them to a flat surface covered in waxed paper. Using ready-to-decorate icing, make a piped outline of the cookie shape.
Note: For pink- and yellow-coated cookies, outline the entire cookie with icing.
Transfer a small amount of icing into a bowl and gradually add water or milk to thin—but don’t let the mixture get too watery. Transfer the icing to a pastry bag and fill in the outlined area. Pipe small details such as eyes, ears and noses onto the cookie straight from the icing tube. For larger areas, outline the shape (such as the wing on the chick) and fill in with thinned icing. If desired, use a spoon to sprinkle on a thin layer of colored sugar on larger areas. For a pretty presentation, spread a thin layer of Easter grass on a ceramic dessert plate and top with iced cookies, or use egg cups and ceramic baskets to showcase your sweets.
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