This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe to use. It is quick, easy and no chilling is required. My son loves making these with different cookie cutters. We did these at Christmas time and now, Easter. He is already asking to do them for Halloween too. It is easily becoming my new favorite tradition with him.
Anytime I have tried to use cookie cutters with other recipes or store-bought dough they don’t come out looking like the shapes they should. With this recipe, they come out perfect every time!
What you will need:
- Two mixing bowls: one small and one medium or large
- Mixer – when I made these at Christmas, I did not have a mixer so I used a spoon to mix and then my hands – it still turned out great! For this batch, I used my hand mixer.
- Unsalted Butter
- Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Egg
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Flour
- Baking Pan – I had to use two to fit all the dough, but you could also do one batch at a time if you only have one pan
- Cooling rack
- Parchment paper – I realized as I started baking that I was out. Another alternative that worked just fine – tin foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray
- Rolling pin
Optional items needed:
- Cookie cutters – these instructions are for cookie cutter specific cookies
- Frosting
- Icing
- Sprinkles
Step by step instructions:
In your bigger bowl or the bowl of your mixer, cream together 1 cup butter and 1 cup sugar until smooth. This took less than 1 minute for me with my hand mixer on medium speed. Once smooth, add in 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
In your smaller bowl – stir together 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3 cups of flour. Add this mix to your wet ingredients a little bit at a time. After a little bit is added to the wet mix and they are combined well, add a little more of the dry mix until all dry mix is combined with the wet ingredients.
NOTE: If there is a little bit of the mix that is not mixing well with your mixer, you can finish kneading with your hands.
Next, dust your hands with flour and form the dough into a ball, it doesn’t have to be a perfect ball. Then sprinkle some flour on a clean surface of your countertop to lay the dough down on.
NOTE: You can do the entire ball of dough which is what I did or you can cut the dough into thirds for this next part.
Preheat oven to 350.
Lay your ball of dough on your floured surface. Rub some flour on all sides of your rolling pin and roll out the dough. You will want to leave the dough about 1/4 inch think for cookie cutters to work best. Once dough is smooth and even you can start placing cookies all around then transfer the cookies to baking sheet.
NOTE: You may need to continue to flour your rolling pin after just 2-3 rolls with it.
Roll remaining dough from your countertop back up into a ball with lightly floured hands. Sprinkle more flour on your countertop if needed. Then place dough back on the countertop and roll out again (with rolling pin dusted with flour). Repeat this cycle until all dough is used up.
Once all cookies are the baking sheet(s), place them in the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes depending on oven. My oven isn’t one that gets overly hot or cooks things quickly. I also don’t like under-baking cookies, so my cookies took about 10 minutes especially for the baking sheet I had to place on the second rack in the oven. Just make sure they are not getting too brown in color.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets before transferring them to a cooling rack. This prevents them from falling apart.
Once cool enough, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. I typically let them sit there for an hour or two before decorating. This way you can have a break and ensure they are completely cooled before trying to handle them.
Decorate however you would like! I usually have frosting, icing tubes and sprinkles for my son and I to decorate.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup unsalted butter
- 1 Cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all purpose flour
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Cream together butter and sugar until smooth on medium speed for about 1-minute
- Beat in egg and vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt and flour. Add a little bit of the dry mixture to the wet mixture at a time, using mixer at medium speed each time. Do this until all ingredients are mixed well and dough forms
- Flour a clean surface on your countertop and roll dough out until smooth and even (about 1/4 inch thick). You want them thicker for using cookie cutters. Place cookies on baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.