I love making sugar cookies! But, not the too soft kind, the kind you eat at Christmas time or even baby showers, the kind you can frost and decorate. Baking cookies or any treats is a great bonding experience for you and your family, or maybe you’re like me and like to bake by yourself to relax. In this recipe, I’m going to show you, how to make the best sugar cookies.

You Will Need

• 17″ x 11″ Cookie Sheet Baking Pan
• Parchment Paper
• Mixer (not necessary, but useful)
• Medium to large bowls
• Ceraim wrap
• Cookie Cutters (Optional)
• Cutting Board
• Rolling Pin

Ingredients

•  24 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar (1 ½ cups)
• Softened Cream Cheese (3 Tablespoons)
• 1 Large Egg
• 2 Large Egg Yolks
• Vanilla Extract (1 teaspoon)
• Kosher Salt ( 1 teaspoon)
• All Purpose Flour ( 3 ½ cups + more for dusting)
• Baking Powder (½ teaspoon)
• Cream of Tarter ( 2 teaspoons)

Royal Icing

• Powder Sugar ( 4 cups)
• Vanilla Extract ( 1 teaspoon)
• ½ tablespoon of Water
• Egg whites ¼ (optional)
• Gel Food color

The first step to this recipe is making your dough! In a large bowl mix together your butter, sugar, and cream cheese together until the mix is fluffy and the granulated sugar is dissolved. For the best results, mix these ingredients together with your mixer set at medium speed. If you are not using a mixer, I suggest using a whisk.

You then want to add your egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract into the dough mix; mix well, and don’t forget to scrap the side of your bowl.

Add your salt, All-Purpose flour, cream of tartar, and baking powder into the bowl; fold your mixture. If you have a mixer, mix your dough till it forms together and looks like dough. Next, get your ceramic wrap and put your dough into the wrap. Of course, wrap your dough and chill it in the fridge for at least 2 hours. The max the dough can sit in the fridge for is 3-4 days.

While you are waiting for your dough to chill, you should clean up your mess and wash your dishes. You can also watch a quick movie, dance around, catch up on YouTube, or just wait.

When the dough is finished chilling in the fridge it should be firm. Get out your cutting board, or you can use your counter. Before putting your dough onto the cutting board, sprinkle some flour onto the board and also your rolling pin, then put the dough there. Also, sprinkle some flour onto the dough.

Roll out the dough till it’s a quarter inch thick and press your cookie cutters onto the dough. Don’t forget to pull out your cookie pan and parchment paper, cut the paper, and put it on the pan. Preheat the oven to 350, and put your cookies onto the pan with parchment paper. After that, you may stick your cookies into the oven. Cookies should bake until 10-12 minutes. 

While waiting for your cookies to bake at this time you want to mix your royal icing ingredients into a medium bowl until the icing is thick, you can color it too.

When cookies are ready to be pulled out of the oven you want to let them cool off for 10-12 minutes (the best result is to let your cookies cool on a cooling rack, or leave them on the pan to cool), you may then ice/decorate your cookies. Enjoy!