My mom makes the BEST sugar cookies. The BEST. She has flat out spoiled me and ruined all other sugar cookies. Hers are the standard by which I will forever compare all cookies. Think you don’t like sugar cookies? Well might I suggest trying these? And don’t worry. The recipe doesn’t make THAT many. Just enough to give you a really good batch to enjoy and freeze for later parties and treats throughout the holidays. In fact, when really doing heavy holiday baking, I will double (and have even tripled) the recipe. Because, in my opinion, when the mess is made – may as well just go with it.
We were quarantined this past week. So with nowhere to go, we took advantage of some of these fun, messy projects. The kids loved it. I was especially surprised by my 6 year old. He was maybe my most faithful “helper”!
Iced Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
The cookie recipe that is the standard by which all other sugar cookie recipes are compared.
Ingredients
- Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions
- In an electric mixer, mix together the wet ingredients.
- Add in the dry ingredients.
- Combine. The dough will be sticky.
- Cover dough in the bowl. Or spray cling wrap with nonstick spray. Roll the dough in the cling wrap.
- Refrigerate for 2+ hours (or overnight).
- Allow dough to warm just enough to be able to handle.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll dough on floured surface and cut into desired shapes. It’s easier to work in batches. We like our cookies to be a little thicker and softer, so I roll out the dough to be about 1/4 of an inch thick.
- Bake cut-outs for 8-10 minutes. We prefer ours soft.
- Allow the cut-outs to cool before icing.
- While the cut-outs are cooling make the frosting: 3-4 cups of powdered sugar (depending on how thick you prefer), 1/2 cup melted butter, 1.5 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp almond extract, 1/8-1/4 cup milk. Mix well, whipping until nice and fluffy.
- Ice the cookies, decorate and enjoy!