Sugar Cookies for Decorating

• Prep30 min
• Cook20 min
• Total2 h 30 min
• Serves30

Ingredients

Cookie dough

• 225 g unsalted butter, softened (1 cup, 2 sticks)
• 200 g sugar (1 cup)
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 375 g all-purpose flour (3 cups), plus a little for the cutters

To roll and cut

• Parchment paper
• A rolling pin
• Cookie cutters in the shapes you like

Instructions

1. Place the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl and mix 30 sec/speed 4, just until smooth and creamy, not fluffy. Scrape down the sides with the spatula. Less air in the dough means less puffing and spreading in the oven.
2. Add the egg, vanilla and salt and mix 15 sec/speed 4. Scrape down the sides.
3. Add the flour and knead 30 sec/dough mode, until the dough forms large clumps. If dry flour remains at the bottom, knead 10 sec/dough mode more. Stop as soon as it holds together when you press it: working the flour longer builds gluten, which makes the cookies tough and pulls the shapes smaller after cutting.
4. Turn the dough out, press it into a ball and divide it in half. Roll each half between two sheets of parchment to 6 mm (1/4 in) thick. The paper keeps the dough from sticking without extra flour, which would make the cookies dry and dull.
5. Stack the rolled sheets on a baking sheet, still in their paper, and chill 1 hour in the fridge or 20 minutes in the freezer, until firm.
6. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line baking sheets with parchment. Peel off the top paper, cut the shapes, dipping the cutter in flour now and then, and place them 2.5 cm (1 in) apart. Press the scraps together, roll them between parchment and chill again before cutting.
7. Bake in the oven one sheet at a time on the middle rack, 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are set and the bottoms are just barely golden. The tops should stay pale: pale cookies stay tender and make the icing colors look brighter.
8. Cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then move them to a rack and let them cool completely, about 30 minutes, before decorating.

Tips

• For the sharpest edges, especially in a warm kitchen, put the tray of cut cookies in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes and bake them straight from cold.
• Freeze the rolled dough sheets, wrapped well and still in their paper, up to 3 months. Cut them straight from frozen (if the dough cracks, wait 5 minutes) and add 1 minute to the baking time. Baked cookies without icing freeze up to 2 months.
• Flavor ideas: almond (use 1 tsp vanilla plus 1 tsp almond extract), lemon (mill the sugar with the peel of 1 lemon 10 sec/speed 10 before adding the butter) or cinnamon (add 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon with the flour).
• To decorate, use the royal icing for fine details and for cookies you want to stack or give as gifts, or the cookie glaze for a quick, shiny coat. Both recipes are on this site.