The Perfect Sugar Cookies for Decorating

Holiday cookies are awesome! Who doesn’t love decorating (or maybe just eating) a few of these sweet treats with friends and family? If you’re on the hunt for the perfect, most roll-able, shape-able sugar cookie out there, you need to save this one in your arsenal! With this recipe, you can make professional looking shaped cookies in your own kitchen any time you want.

Photo by Cathy at lolfoodie

INGREDIENTS
Makes 5 dozen cookies. (You can freeze the dough you don’t use for the future!)

1 1/2 cups softened butter
3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

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 the dough for at least one hour or overnight. This helps your cookies keep their shape and makes cutting easier!
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Roll out your chilled cookie dough to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut them into the desired shapes. Place cookies 1 inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake 5 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. They cook very quickly, so keep an eye on them!
Let them cool completely before frosting them.

ICING
Though many different types of icing will work, this is a very good, vibrant, glossy one:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
food coloring

Pour confectioners’ sugar and milk into a small bowl and stir until completely combined. Mix in corn syrup and almond/vanilla extract until icing until mixture is smooth and glossy. If your icing is too thick, just add more milk 1/2 a teaspoon at a time until it’s reached the desired consistency.
Divide your frosting into separate bowls, and add your choice of food coloring to each. You can dip your cookies or paint them as desired.
Allow 2-3 hours for your frosting to set completely before packing them away and enjoy!

Photo Credits: lolfoodie