Sugar Cookies Week 5

Day 8 Bake Swap 24 Days To Go

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 large egg


• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly soft


• 1/2 cup granulated sugar


• 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar


• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt


• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus as needed

For Decorating:

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar


• About 1 tablespoon milk


• Food coloring, if desired


• Sprinkles, candies, cored sugar as desired

Directions

Whisk the egg and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.

With a hand held mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, add both sugars, and continue beating until light, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl again, if needed, then add the egg mixture, beating for about 1 minute. Sift the salt with the flour. Reduce themixer to a low speed and then add the flour mixture, mixing just until blended.

Turn the dough out of the bowl. Divide the dough in half and place each half between 2 pieces of lightly floured parchment or waxed paper. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a disk about 1/4-inch thick. Slide the dough/parchment sheet onto a flat cookie sheet, or on the back of a rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

Evenly space the racks in the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Place 1 disk of the cookie dough on a clean work surface and peeloff the top sheet of paper. Cut cookies with a 1 1/2-inch round or a decorative shaped cookie cutter directly on the parchment. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined or non-stick baking sheet, spacing them about 1-inch apart. Repeat with other sheet of dough. Any excess dough can be re-rolled, refrigerated, and cut.

Bake until the edges of the cookies are a light golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

For decorating: Whisk the confectioners' sugar with just enoughmilk to make a thick icing. Transfer icing to a small plastic bag. Press the icing into a corner of the bag and snip off the corner with scissors to make a small opening. Gently press the icing onto the cookie to make a simple pattern. Decorate as desired. Set aside for about 1 hour to let the icing harden.

 

I would NOT make these cookies! These cookies did not taste that bad, but they were not great either. The problem with these cookies is that they could not be cut with cookie cutters. The dough would just stick to the paper. We added more flour to some of it to see if that would help, but then they tasted like nothing. We even tried putting them in a cookie press, even more mess. We ended up just giving up. Not worth making. The sad part is that this recipes was found on the Foodnetwork website.