Cutout Sugar Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
• Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough between two pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch thick. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Cut out cookies with a 4-inch one-piece-shaped cookie cutter. To make an ornament, cut out a hole from the center of the neck about 1/4-inch from the edge using a straw. Transfer cookie dough on plastic wrap to a baking sheet. Transfer baking sheet to freezer, freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes. Remove baking sheet from freezer and transfer shapes to baking sheets lined with nonstick baking mats. Roll out scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
• Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

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.

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:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a portion of cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minute, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Cool completely on pans about 5 minutes, transfer to cooling racks and cool completely before decorating.
• In a small bowl, mix sugar and water to form a thick, smooth icing. Stir in food coloring to reach desired shade. Drop icing onto cookies using a small teaspoon and smooth with the back of the spoon. Make additional bowls for additional colors.
• Additional multi-colored sprinkles can be added on top of icing before it dries for more decorative cookies, if desired.

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:

• Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add first egg while continuing to beat, incorporating the egg fully before adding the second and beating fully into the mixture. Beat vanilla extract and almond extract into the mixture with the third egg.
• Stir flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl; add to the wet mixture and beat just until the wet and dry combine into a cookie dough. Shape dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Roll dough out onto a flour-dusted surface and cut with cookie cutters. Arrange cut cookies onto baking sheets.
• Bake cookies in preheated oven until beginning to brown around edges, 6 to 8 minutes.

Steps:

• Combine sugar and butter in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Using the paddle attachment of the mixer, or a wooden spoon if you are doing this by hand, blend butter and sugar until no granules of sugar show. Lightly stir in salt, egg and vanilla.
• Stir in flour in thirds. Add just enough to make a dough that forms a mass and that is very soft but not sticky. It should be pale yellow in color.
• Gather dough in a ball, wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour, and preferably 3 or 4 hours or overnight.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll chilled dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Dust rolling pin and dough with cake flour as needed. Using cookie cutters, make shapes and transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie. The bottoms should be just beginning to turn golden. If they're brown, you've cooked the batch too long.
• Transfer cookies to cooling rack. Let cool completely, then decorate with icing, sprinkles and dusting sugars.

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.