Vanilla Sugar Cookies
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup slightly softened unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla & 1 teaspoon almond extract (or flavoring of choice)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 (or 4 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and both sugars together. If you have any brown sugar lumps, you should crush them up or pull them out. They make weird dents in your baked cookies.
- Add the eggs and the vanilla/flavoring and mix thoroughly.
- Add the salt and baking powder and mix.
- Before you add the flour, let’s have a little chat. Different altitudes need different amounts of flour. Differences in humidity will the change the amount of flour you should add. Is there a storm coming? That changes things. Add only 3 cups to begin with. Then add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is no longer sticky and pulls away from the side of the mixing bowl. (This usually happens at about 4 cups of flour for me…except when it happens at 3 1/2 or 4 1/2!) The key is for the dough to be “tacky” but not “sticky”. If you accidentally add too much flour it’s not a disaster, your cookies will just be a little crunchier. It’s a very forgiving recipe.
- Bake at 350F. If you roll to 1/4″ thick, bake for about 7 minutes. If you roll to 3/8″ thick, bake for about 10-12 minutes.
Quick Dry Royal Icing
Decorates 3-4 medium dozen cookies
2 lb bag of powdered sugar ~7 cups
6 tbsp of CK Meringue Powder
3/4 tsp of Cream of Tartar
5 oz warm water
3 tsp butter vanilla flavor
1 tbsp of Light Corn Syrup
Directions:
1. Mix your meringue powder and warm water with your whisk attachment on medium high speed until it is thickened up and doubled in size (about 1 min)
2. Add Cream of Tartar, Butter & Vanilla Flavors. Mix about 30 secs.
3. Add half bag of powdered sugar and mix on low until smooth – about 30 secs.
4. Add Corn Syrup, mix in (10 secs)
5. Stop mixer and add remaining Powdered Sugar. Mix on medium-low for 30 secs, then scrape down sides of bowl. Mix for one more minute.
6. Store in airtight container until ready to use.