Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies and Sugar Cookie Icing

Here's the recipe you wanted me to add, Roxanne!

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3 c. sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1 c. butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 T. cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, add butter and sugar. Beat well.

Add the egg, vanilla and cream. Blend well.

Turn the mixter to low speed, then slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until the dough is well formed, without sticking t the sides of the bowl.

Divide the dough in half, then wrap each half in wax paper. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Sprinkle your rolling-out surface and your rolling pin with powdered sugar. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes.

Place an inch apart on a greased baking sheet and sprinkle with granulated sugar, if desired.

Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until lightly brown. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tsp. milk (use 3 instead of just 2)
1 c. confectioners' sugar
2 tsp. light corn syrup (use 3-4 tsp. - the more you use, the runnier the icing)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (use almond instead of vanilla)
Assorted food coloring colors

Directions:

In a small bowl, stir together the milk and confectioners sugar until smooth. *It will be one big semi-smooth blob.*

Beat in corn syrup and the vanilla extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If the icing is too thick, add additonal corn syrup to thin slightly.

Divide the icing into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to reach the preferred color intensity. Paint the icing onto the cookies or pipe with decorator icing tubes and tips.

Sure Fire Tips for the Perfect Sugar Cookies

• If you are rolling the dough to use cookie cutters, remember to keep the dough chilled. As it warms it sticks to the rolling pin and the surface you're rolling on.
• The thinner your roll your dough, the crispier the cookie will be. This recipe calls for rolling the dough to 1/4 inch thickness, which makes them soft with just the right amount of crispness around the outside of the cookie.
• Soften the butter at room temperature for about an hour or two before mixing. Butter tha tisn't softened won't mix properly and your cookies will be flat. Do not microwave butter to soften, as it will soften unevenly.
• The eggs should also be at room temperature. Cold eggs can cause the batter to curdle.
• Halfway through the baking process, take a minute to rotate the baking sheets from back to front for even baking. This step is worth it to prevent unevenly baked batches of cookies.
• If you are making more than one batch, do not put the dough onto hot cookie sheets. It will spread as you're placing the dough on the sheet, and baking will be uneven.
• The brand of flour makes a difference. Gold Medal or Pillsbury flours are lower-protein. King Arthur flour is higher protein which produces slightly drier, cakier cookies.
• If you want extra dough, this sugar cookie recipe freezes well. You can freeze the dough for about four weeks as long as it is tightly wrapped.