Never Fail Cutout Cookies Recipes

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix until combined.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out dough on a floured surface (keep dough about 1/4" thick, or thicker if that's what you prefer). Use cookie cutters to cut into your desired shapes. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Place the baking sheet in the freeze for 10 minutes.
• Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. Can frost with royal icing, store-bought icing or homemade frosting.

NEVER-FAIL CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour. Divide dough into 4 portions; shape each into a disk. Cover; refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with floured 3-in. holiday cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake until edges are light golden, 12-14 minutes. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., For frosting, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, shortening, vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency. If desired, tint with food coloring. Spread or pipe over cookies. Decorate as desired.

CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Icing:;
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 12 minutes; obviously it depends on the shape you're using and whether they are on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after about 5 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.
• Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack. When they are fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of not-quite-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved confectioners sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Color,as desired. I think pastes are much better than liquid, not just because the range of colors is better but because they don't dilute the icing as they tint. Ice cooled cookies, as desired.

NO-FAIL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.
• In a large mixing bowl, mash the butter with white sugar and brown sugar until the mixture is well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and stir in vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture, about 1 cup at a time, then mix in the chocolate chips. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheets before removing cookies to finish cooling.

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar.
• Add eggs and vanilla.
• Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.
• Mix well.
• Chill for 1 to 2 hours or see HINT below.
• Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes.
• Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges.
• HINT: Rolling out dough without the mess-rather than wait for the dough to chill, take freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.
• Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough with paper on a cookie sheet and pop it in the refrigerator.
• Continue rolling dough between paper until you have used it all.
• By the time you finish preparing the dough, the first batch will be chilled and ready to cut.
• Reroll left over dough and repeat the process.
• An added bonus is that you aren't adding any more flour to the cookies by rolling them out the old fashioned way.

THE BEST, NO-FAIL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together first (5) ingredients.
• Add eggs and mix well.
• In seperate bowl sift all dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture.
• Add chips and nuts, stir to combine.
• Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets (2" apart).
• Bake in preheated oven, 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.