Winning Sugar Cookies Recipes

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

OLD SCHOOL SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a big bowl, combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest, salt and vanilla and mix until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the baking powder, taking care to mix well. Add the eggs and egg yolk and stir well. Add the flours and gently stir until a smooth ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet (or sheets) with parchment paper (no cooking spray).
• On a floured surface, roll out tennis ball-size pieces of dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shapes you want. Lay them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1/4 inch between each cookie.
• Bake for 8 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack, then decorate them however you like with Royal Icing and your favorite sprinkles.
• Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, whip most of the powdered sugar with most of the other ingredients. Whip for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the royal icing holds its shape and is bright white (not translucent). If it is too soft, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add a bit more liquid, drop by drop. If you are using only one color, add a few drops of the color at this point and keep whipping until you have the shade you want; otherwise, proceed to the next step.
• To store royal icing, the ideal way is to scrape it out of the bowl and into a plastic, disposable piping bag, then leave it at room temperature. Don't cut the bag until you're ready to use the royal icing, and don't overfill the bag--you want enough room to tie the back of the bag off to keep the royal icing airtight. If any air comes into contact with the royal icing, it gets hard and that part of the icing is useless. Never attempt to mix the hard bits back into the royal icing--you'll ruin the whole batch. The other accepted method of storing royal icing is to scrape it into a plastic or ceramic bowl, and cover it with a wet paper towel. This method works, but it wastes both paper towels and royal icing. It's also just annoying. When you're piping small designs, you want to use very small parchment piping bags. It's easy to stick the nose of a large piping bag into a smaller one and extract exactly how much you'll need. When the icing is in a bowl, you have to use a spoon to get it out. The spoon is difficult to get into a piping bag, and you'll keep using spoons and wasting royal icing. Get with the times people. Do it right and don't waste food.

ULTIMATE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat sugar and shortening at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, syrup and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add combined dry ingredients at low speed. Mix until well blended.
• Refrigerate dough 1 hour.
• Roll out dough between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper. Cut out with floured cutter.
• Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 5-9 minutes, depending on size and thickness of cookies. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes, then remove from cookie sheets to cool.

WINNING SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in oil and vanilla.
• Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture; mix well. Chill dough in refrigerator 8 hours or overnight.
• Shape dough in balls the size of a walnut. Place balls about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in 350 degree oven 10 to 12 minutes or until done. Remove from baking sheets; cool on racks. Makes about 7 dozen.

WORLD'S GREATEST SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream Crisco and sugar together.
• Add all other ingredients except flour.
• Slowly add flour until you can handle it enough to roll out on a floured surface (Dough can also be used for filled cookies).
• Cut dough with cookie cutters into fun shapes.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.
• Don't overcook.
• They will look pretty lightly colored when done.
• If they start to brown, you've cooked them too long and they won't be soft.