After much research and The Great Sugar Cookie Experiment I am happy to have a sugar cookie recipe that is perfect, in my humble opinion, for decorating with my favorite royal icing. This is a vanilla almond sugar cookie recipe and not only is it delicious, but the cookies are sturdy enough for both decorating and shipping. Break out your favorite cookie cutters and give my favorite sugar cookie recipe a try. I’d love to hear what you think!
Sugar Cookies for Decorating
sugarkissed.net
Ingredients
1-1/8 cup unsalted butter
1-1/4 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
1. Cream together the butter and sugar. I set the butter out on the counter for about 30 minutes, chopped into small squares, to bring it to room temperature before beginning. (I have had bad luck with using the microwave to bring butter to room temperature.)
2. Beat in the eggs (I set these out on the counter with the butter to bring them to room temperature too), vanilla, and almond flavorings.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
4. One cup at a time, mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Scraping down your bowl as needed.
5. Divide dough up into three sections, Saran wrap, and refrigerate overnight. (For some reason cookies just taste better when the dough is refrigerated overnight.)
6. When you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes so it’s not too hard to work with.
7. After rolling and cutting your dough, set your dough shapes in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking to reduce spreading.
8. Bake on parchment paper lined baking sheets at 350 for 6 to 8 minutes.
9. After removing the cookies from the oven, let them sit for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
Hi,
I’m making these cookies for my own baby shower and I have about 25-30 people coming( big family and lots of friends) I am doing 2 shapes for each person ( a lion head and a monkey head) about how many recipices do you suggest I make of this dough. I have already started with a double batch but I feel like I would need at least one more but don’t want to be swimming in cookies. I mean I do need right around 80 cookies ( someof the me want some as well).
Two to three batches should do it, Heather. It will depend on how big & thick you make your cookies and if you reroll your dough.
Is this a good recipe even if you don’t want to roll it. I just want to use it for a drop cookie.
I’ve never used this recipe for drop cookies, Linda. I love it because it has minimal spreading and is sturdy for decorating and shipping. And, of course, it’s delicious! I don’t know if it would be right for drop cookies because those tend to rise and be more chewy. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Just to clarify, when you say MIX in dry ingredients that means by hand, not mixer. Correct? I don’t want to ruin my dough! Thank you.
I use a mixer, Camille.
How long can you freeze the cookies for?
I would suggest 3 to 6 months.
I made these cookies and they are delicious but my batch spread and became thinner. I rolled them at 3/8 inch. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Spreading can be so frustrating, Patty. Sugar cookies are notorious for it! There are a couple things I suggest you try to reduce the spreading as much as possible: 1) Make sure you set the cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking so the dough is chilled. 2) Try the recipe without any baking powder.
If you still have too much spreading after trying these tips, check out this post by Sweetopia for more ideas: http://sweetopia.net/2011/04/top-8-tips-on-preventing-cookies-from-spreading/
Hope this helps!
I have a question, the recipe calls for almond and I don’t know where I can find almost extract on such short notice. Is there anything I can substitute since I don’t have it? I only have vanilla bad butter extract.
I have a question, the recipe calls for almond and I don’t know where I can find almost extract on such short notice. Is there anything I can substitute since I don’t have it? I only have vanilla and butter extract.
You can leave the almond out, Crystal.
Hello,
I am so glad I stumbled upon your website when I was searching for minecraft cookies. I have decided to start making some for my nephews minecraft party but as I continued browsing I found your blog about thw cookie experiment and I found that the perfecr batch of sugar cookies consisted of 1 and 1/4 cups of butter but on this recipe it says 1 and 1/8 so I was wondering if it was a mistype or is the one on this site correct. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Lyn, I currently use the recipe with 1-1/8 c of butter that is up on my blog.
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