Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Continuing with our holiday baking are these snowflake sugar cookies! The thing I love about sugar cookies is that they are so versatile. Sure… they may look and taste plain at first, but they are essentially a blank canvas for you to decorate! This christmas, I decided to make snowflake sugar cookies because quite frankly… my cookie cutter selection is quite limited so I worked with what I had.. I definitely want to stock up on more cookie cutter shapes next year!
Decorating sugar cookies is quite the art – one I have yet to perfect. Just recently did I get the consistency of the royal icing just right so that it doesn’t run all over the cookie upon piping it. What I still currently struggle with is having the right control when piping the outline. In essence, I have trouble staying inside the lines when coloring -_- Luckily, there were enough cookies that by the time I decorated the last few, I finally started to get the hang of it!
This sugar cookie recipe is my go to. It usually makes a pretty large batch but I try to either halve it or just freeze the rest for another occasion. These sugar cookies are not only perfect for the holidays, but can be great for bake sales or any other occasion where you have an excuse to be creative. For instructions, see below.
Snowflake Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Royal icing to decorate
Instructions
- 1. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Then, beat in eggs and vanilla.
- 2. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until combined.
- 3. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
- 4. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat.
- 5. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven until the edges start to brown a little. Make sure not to overbake them or they won't retain their white/creamy color. Cool completely (approximately 15 mins).
- 6. Once fully cooled, you can decorate them with royal icing.
