Soft & Delicious Sugar Cookies

Tis the season for baking! My family always had a huge cookie making day every year at Christmastime, and by the end of the day every bit of counter and table space was covered with these cookies– a beautiful sight. 🙂 Of  course you can make sugar cookies any time of year, but to me these will always taste like Christmas. I’ve tried lots of different sugar cookies, but I always keep coming back to this recipe– it’s definitely my favorite, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, too.

Sugar Cookies   (yield: about 18 medium sized cookies)

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Turn oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together well.
3. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
4. Beat in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
5. Lightly flour your work surface, and roll out the dough to about 1/3 inch thick (or 1/4 inch thick for cookies that aren’t quite as soft).
6. Cut out your cookies and place on a cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
7. Bake the cookies 8 minutes (10 for large cookies). The cookies should look done, but only golden on the bottom, not the tops.
8. Allow to cool and then frost with Vanilla Butter Frosting.

Vanilla Butter Frosting

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbl. milk

1. Carefully beat the butter and sugar together until the butter is evenly dispersed.
2. Beat in the vanilla and milk. Go frost some cookies. 🙂