Basic Sugar Cut Out Cookies Recipes

CUTOUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and chill for 2-3 hours or until easy to handle. , On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. , For icing, cream the butter and shortening in a bowl. Add vanilla and salt. Gradually add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk; beat until light and fluffy. Tint icing with desired colors of food coloring; decorate the cookies.

SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour and baking powder, stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the heavy cream. Cover dough, and chill for 2 to 3 hours, until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

EASY CUT-OUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; set aside.
• Place sugar and butter into bowl of heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat at medium speed until well combined. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract; beat until well mixed. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed until just combined.
• While removing dough from bowl, knead to incorporate crumbs and form smooth dough. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness.
• Cut into shapes with 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until just beginning to brown around edges. Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely.
• For directions to achieve a marbled look, follow the steps in The Royal Icing Technique You Need to Know This Holiday Season.

BASIC SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes, or place in a resealable plastic bag, and freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator overnight).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as needed. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets. (If dough gets soft, chill 10 minutes.) Reroll scraps; cut shapes. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes (depending on size). Cool completely on wire racks. To ice cookies, spread with the back of a spoon. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes. Decorate as desired.
• For the icing, sift confectioners' sugar into a small bowl. Whisk in milk, water, or lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If too thin, whisk in more sugar; if too thick, add more liquid. Spread over cookies with back of a spoon. Add other decorations, if desired. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes.

CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 12 minutes; obviously it depends on the shape you're using and whether they are on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after about 5 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.
• Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack. When they are fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of not-quite-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved confectioners sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Color,as desired. I think pastes are much better than liquid, not just because the range of colors is better but because they don't dilute the icing as they tint. Ice cooled cookies, as desired.

EASY CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, flour, melted butter and egg until soft dough forms.
• On floured surface, roll dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with 3-inch cookie cutters. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• In medium bowl, beat powdered sugar, 2 to 4 tablespoons milk and the vanilla with spoon until smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too stiff to spread, add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Tint with food color. Spread frosting on cooled cookies. Decorate as desired with candy sprinkles and colored sugars. Let stand about 30 minutes or until frosting is set. Store covered in airtight container at room temperature with waxed paper between layers.

THE BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

BASIC SUGAR CUT OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together sugar and butter (can use all butter or half and half like I do).
• Beat in the egg and vanilla.
• If using spices add them at this point, I like a combination of 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp of cinnamon and half a tsp of allspice. but have also made them using a cup of chocolate chips.
• Add in the flour a cup at a time (if you are finding it a little dry add a tsp or so of water).
• Roll out between two sheets of baking paper (thanks wife2abadge for this tip!) and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• I roll out about half a centimetre thick (I'm in Europe and don't do inches, sorry!) when cutting out and put on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 400 for about 6-10 minutes, the time taken depends on the size of cutters you have used.
• Cool for a minute on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack before decorating.
• (This is just a personal note for me! 1 cup butter = 225g).

BASIC SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat butter until fluffy, beat in sugar in 3 additions.
• Beat in egg and vanilla.
• In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt; beat into butter mixture in 3 additions.
• Divide dough in 2 equal portions and shape into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• On lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness, cut into shapes.
• Place cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets, greased or lined with parchment paper (I spray mine with PAM).
• Bake until light golden for about 10 minutes. Depending on your oven you may have to turn pans halfway through.
• Mix cookie glaze ingredients until preferred consistency and have fun decorating!