Best Cutout Sugar Cookies (Susan Brown)

  • 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 3 cups all purpose flour

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350. In the bowl of your mixer, cream butter and sugar until smooth, at least 3 minutes. Beat in extracts and egg. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands & finish off kneading the dough by hand. DO NOT CHILL THE DOUBH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a powder sugar surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8). Bake at 350 for 6 - 8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

NOTES:
* If you must chill the dough, just leave it on the counter top for 10 minutes before rolling or work the dough with your hands for a few minutes.

* YOU CAN OMIT THE ALMOND EXTRACT if you do not have it available, however the taste is really fantastic with the hint of almond.

* Keep in mind that the recipe yield will vary according to how thick you roll your cookies and how large or small the cutters are.

* Bake for 6 minutes to test. They should be soft. Leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cool completely. If you reach 7 - 8 minutes and the edges turn brown, your cookie will be crisper.