Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

This is the fifth cookie of the six cookies that we make on my family’s cookie baking day.  I have already featured Colleen’s Candy, Almond Bark Pretzels, Star Cookies, and Spritz Cookies. Tomorrow I will feature the last treat we make which is Carmel Chocolate Swirl Fudge.  This cookie is by far the best Cut-Out Sugar Cookie recipe you will ever find.  Have you ever been tricked at a party by great looking cut out cookies?  You finally give in to trying them based off their great looks only to find they are flavorless. Well that will never happen to your guests with this recipe. This cookie is soft and full of flavor. You can make it at any holiday: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St.Patricks’s Day, the 4th of July, Halloween and so on.  They are also a hit for other events like birthday parties, etc.  My sister has baked these cookies for almost every holiday and party event.  For example, she loves to make pumpkins at her Halloween party and hearts at her Valentine’s party.  She always has the cookies all baked, and when the kids arrive, they can frost them as an activity at the party.  So let’s get started making Cut-Out Sugar Cookies. 

First cream the softened butter and sugar together.

Beat eggs in a bowl and stir into batter.  Next dissolve your salt and soda in 1 Tablespoon of warm water. Now add this mixture to the batter. Then add the vanilla.  Now gradually add the 3 cups of flour to the batter.

Scoop the dough in a freezer safe bowl and chill in the freezer for at least an hour.  We actually had ours in the freezer for a week.  

After chilling in the freezer, get a portion of the dough out and roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface.  Put the remaining dough back into the freezer until you are ready to use it.  It is very important to put the remaining dough back in the freezer between each rolling out of the dough or it will be too sticky to work with.

Then get out your favorite cookie cutters and cut out your shapes. We cut out all the shapes that will fit on the rolled out piece of dough, then we take scrap dough that is leftover from around each cookie cutter and put it all together as a ball so we can roll out the dough for a second time.  After the second roll out you can throw away the scrap dough.  This keeps the dough from getting too much flour incorporated into it.  Then you can get out your next portion of dough from the bowl in the freezer and repeat the rolling out process until you use up all of the dough.

Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  

We always frost them with buttercream frosting.  In a mixer blend 1/3 cup of softened butter, 1 lb. of powdered sugar, 1/4 cup of milk, 1 tsp. of vanilla and 1/4 tsp. of salt until smooth. You may have to add a little more powdered sugar if the frosting is a little too runny or a little milk if it is a little too thick.

Then we add food coloring to the frosting.

Now you can frost the cookies and add colored sugar and sprinkles.  This recipe also freezes well.  We freeze the finished frosted cookies until we are ready to take them to parties or give them as gifts.