Basicsugarcutoutcookies Recipes

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.

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.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (1 to 2 minutes). Add egg and vanilla and continue beating until mixture looks smooth (2 minutes). Incorporate flour and salt into butter mixture in low speed. Scrape down sides if bowl. Shape into 2 disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 45 to 60 minutes.
• Roll out, cut into desired shapes and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven on lightly greased cookie sheets for 8 to 10 minutes.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortning, butter, and sugar.
• Add eggs, one one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add vanilla, beat until light and fluffy.
• Aleternately, add flour mixture and milk in halves, folding after each addition until just blended.
• Divide dough into thirds, wrap each third in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325°F
• Preferred method to baking - use parchment paper! Measure and cut pieces to fit on your cookie sheets. No need to grease cookie sheets. If not using parchment, lightly grease cookie sheets.
• Remove one package of dough. Place on a precut, lightly floured parchment paper, or a well floured surface, and roll out using a floured rolling pin to 1/8th inch thickness.
• Cut cookies with shaped cutters, dipping cutter into flour between each cut. Clean excess dough off as needed. Cut cookies with at least 1 inch space between.
• After cutting all the dough, pull away excess dough. Gather into a ball, rewrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• Carefully slide parchment onto cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just set in middle. Time will depend greatlyon the size and shape of your cutters. Edges of cookies should not change color. Bottoms should be a VERY pale golden color.
• Let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes. Carefully slide parchment off of cookie sheet and onto wire rack or clean counter to cool completely. Use thin spatula, and line counter with paper, if not using parchment.
• Repeat process with remaining packages of dough. Then combine all the excess dough from the original 3 packages and continue making cookies until all dough is used.
• Decorate when cooled, and store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Mix in order given.
• Do Not Chill Dough!
• Roll out on lightly floured surface.
• Place on greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
• Bake in 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are light brown.
• Completely cool before icing.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Process nuts in food processor until finely ground. Add flour, dry pudding mix, sugar and baking powder; pulse until blended.
• Add cream cheese and butter; process just until blended. With food processor running, add egg through feed tube at top of processor, processing until blended. (Dough might look crumbly.)
• Place dough on lightly floured surface; knead until smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll out one portion on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness; cut into assorted shapes using 3-inch cookie cutters, rerolling scraps as necessary.
• Place cutouts, 1 inch apart, on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake 10 to 12 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

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).