Sugar Cut-Out Cookies

Delicious, soft sugar cookies that do not require any chill time before baking!  So many cut out cookies require at least some amount of time chilling in the refrigerator before they can be rolled out, but this recipe doesn't need to and the edges still hold their shape perfectly in the baking process.

These cookies are great to make with your kids, especially right before a holiday.  The dough is very easy to mix together. You can mix it either by hand or with an electric mixer and then you can go straight into rolling it out to cut the shapes.  This is the most fun part for the kiddos.  Even if you have pretty little ones they can still pick out which cookie cutter to use and help you push it into the dough. Both little K (18 months old) and my nephew D (11 years old) helped me with this batch. They both had fun and were able to help me do a lot of the prep work.

Since it is almost Halloween we made some pumpkins, ghosts, bats, and a few other shapes not pictured. As you can see, we went for a very rustic, but delicious, approach to decorating the cookies.  I made the glaze into a few 'Halloween colors' and we just drizzled it all over the place.  Of course you can decorate as simple or as fancy as you want to or even just leave them plain.  The cookies taste amazing no matter what you decide to do. I hope you give this very easy and very yummy recipe a try! Let me know what theme you decide to cut your cookies out into!  

Sugar Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and the extracts until well combined.  Beat in the baking powder and then mix in the flour in several additions until completely combined.  Divide the dough into batches and roll out to about 1/4 inch thick on a smooth work surface dusted with flour.  Cut out your shapes and bake the cookies on trays for approximately 8 minutes.  Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.  Leave the cookies plain or decorate as you desire. I used the glaze recipe, below.

Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup, optional
3-6 tbsp water, as needed

Combine the ingredients in a bowl, adding just enough water to get the consistency you desire.  Divide the glaze into batches and stir in food coloring.  Transfer the glaze to zipper baggies and cut off a corner to pipe the glaze or just dunk each cookie in the glaze to coat one side.  Allow the glaze to set on the cookies for at least 20 minutes before serving.