cutout

Easiest Cut-out Sugar Cookies

I hope everyone had an amazing Easter! We sure did here in Chicagoland because it was 75 degrees and sunny! So beautiful. Spring has arrived, people are getting vaccinated for Covid-19, let’s get this show on the road! The show being life as we know and love it.

I made these sugar cookies for Easter and I’m so happy I found the perfect recipe! They are so easy and equally delicious, this is my new go-to cut-out. Some may say you do not need to chill the dough before rolling it out, but I say 30 minutes is key. Me and a room temperature dough do not get along. So, here we go… put on those aprons and let’s get started 🙂

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
Cookie cutters in desired shapes

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)

In a bowl (I used my hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in extract and egg until combined. Add in baking powder and salt and beat until combined. I know! Different than your typical recipe. Last, slowly beat in flour 1 cup at a time until dough forms.

Seperate the dough into 2 discs and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. No more, no less.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly flour your work surface. Take out 1 disc of dough and roll to desired thickness. Thinner for a crispy cookie, thicker for a soft cookie.

Place cookies on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Store covered at room temp or in the fridge. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Cutout Cookies

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Happy Memorial Day, everyone! It has definitely been a hot one here in Chicago, with temps over 90 degrees and super sunny blue skies! I am not complaining as summer is life to me. So much fun! But since it has been so hot, we decided to stay in today and of course, do some baking. My son helped make these cookies and they are so easy and best of all… do not need to be refrigerated! Cutouts always take so long because you have to refrigerate the dough before you can roll them out, cut out shapes and decorate. This recipe is fridge free! 🙂

This recipe also only makes several small cookies. The stars we did are very small but the flags were bigger so we only got 4 of those. You can easily double the recipe if need be. But super fun and easy, tastes great and is the perfect thing to do if you want to get out of the heat! So go get those aprons on and let’s celebrate and remember our soldiers.

What you will need:

Cookie sheet
Parchment paper and wax paper

1 cup all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cookie cutouts
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In an other bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in yolk and vanilla until combined. Add the flour and beat until just combined. This may take a while. Once the dough starts to form and come together, form a ball with your hands.

Place the dough ball on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Flour the top of the ball and then place a piece of wax paper on top. Roll out the dough to desired thickness. Remove wax paper and cut out into desired shapes. The dough is sticky so I just removed the excess dough and placed the parchment paper directly onto a cookie sheet. Decorate with sprinkles and bake for 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Note: Transferring the parchment paper directly to the cookie sheet withe the cookies on it works best but I went through quite a few sheets of parchment paper. You can also try removing the cut outs with a metal spatula but mine were too sticky. Do what works best for you.

Enjoy!

 

The Perfect Cutout Sugar Cookie Recipe

 

Oh, the dreaded cutout cookie. I love sugar cookies but used to hate making them. To be honest, I was afraid of the dough! It’s sticky, makes a mess, and takes forever. However, I found THE best recipe and I’ve used it many times so I know it will work for you, too. There are a lot of steps and it does take a while from mixing dough to eating an actual cookie but it is so worth it! Just be patient, take your time and you will master the cutout 🙂 I frost my sugar cookies with a powdered sugar glaze that hardens. I included that recipe in this post. Here we go…

What you will need:

One or two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper
Cookie cutters, any shape
Rolling pin
An extra sheet of parchment paper and wax paper

For the sugar cookies:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the glaze:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
6 +/- teaspoons milk (depending on how thick/thin you want the glaze)
Food coloring (optional)

To make the dough: 

(Tip: This dough needs to be refrigerated a couple hours before rolling and baking. I make mine the day before and then let it sit on the counter about 10-15 minutes to soften it up before rolling.)

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture until you have a nice, smooth dough. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one to two hours, or overnight.

To roll, cut, and bake the dough:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and take off plastic wrap. Place on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper (this eliminates any dough sticking to your counter). Lightly flour the top of the dough and place a sheet of wax paper on top (this eliminates any dough sticking to your rolling pin). With your rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Then, with the cookie cutter, cut out desired shapes and transfer cookies to the baking sheet. (Note: if you are not frosting your cookies, now is when you can sprinkle them with sparkling sugar.) Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to chill the cookies (this helps the cookies hold their shape while baking). Gather remaining dough, roll out and cut out more cookies until you have no more dough.

 

Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges are starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet about 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

To make the glaze:

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, corn syrup and 6 teaspoons of milk. Next, add food coloring (if using). If needed, add more milk, teaspoon by teaspoon to get desired consistency. Frost completely cooled cookies. Tip: I pour my glaze in a shallow bowl (like a pie pan) which makes it easier to dip the cookies and get an even layer of glaze on top. Let the glaze harden, about an hour, before storing in an airtight container. Enjoy!