Soft Sugar Cookies

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and one of my favorite memories is decorating shoe boxes to collect valentines and having “room parties” which always included lots of treats and games.  Do kids still make their own valentines and mailboxes or am I totally out of the loop?

Candy hearts, chocolates and my favorite- sugar cookies. Jewelry and flowers are nice, but I’m a sucker for a good sugar cookie. Okay wait, I lied. Dave if you are reading this, I’ll take jewelry and flowers.

This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe of all time. I have tried a lot of different recipes, but with much tweaking and re-tweaking, I finally have my perfect sugar cookie that I can share with you! I prefer my sugar cookies to be soft rather than crunchy. This cookie is sturdy enough to hold up lots of decorating and yet soft enough for me to love. I made bunches of these over Christmas and I’m bringing it back around for Valentine’s Day.  Sugar cookies can be tricky, but these are incredibly easy. 

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Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Tools

Cookie Sheet

Mixer

Parchment paper

Measuring cups and spoons

Cookie Cutters

Cooling Rack

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a mixer, beat the butter until it's smooth.

Add the sugar to the butter and beat on high for 2-3 minutes until it becomes a fluffy consistency. Add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract and mix again until combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add about half the flour mixture and turn the mixer on low. Beat until the flour is just combined, then add the rest of the flour mixture and mix until just combined again. If your dough looks too sticky then just add another tablespoon of flour.

On lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the dough into 1/4 inch thickness. If you want a crunchier cookie, just roll the dough thinner. Cover your dough with another piece of parchment paper and place in the refrigerator to chill. I like rolling out the dough before chilling, it's easier than trying to roll a chilled mound.

It is very important to chill this dough for at least an hour. If you don't chill it long enough, the butter in the dough will become a melted mess and you'll have blobs instead of shapes.

Once the dough is chilled, grab your cookie cutters and go to town. Place your shapes onto a lightly greased or Silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-11 minutes. I prefer 8 minutes because they will be softer, but just leave them in longer for a crunchier cookie. Place on a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before you decorate. Enjoy these yummy sugar cookies!

Note:  Using room temperature butter in sugar cookies is essential. Room temperature butter and sugar mix together easily and allow more air to get in which makes the dough light and fluffy.  I'm not the most patient person, so waiting for butter to come to room temperature for 2 hours isn't my idea of fun.

 Here's a tip: take your stick of butter and put in the microwave for 5 second increments. After each 5 seconds, roll the stick a 1/4 turn. Be very careful because it can turn to melted quickly, but usually after 10-15 seconds you have a nice room temperature butter ready to use. No waiting required.