Soft Sugar Cookies
- 2 cups and 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pure almond extract, optional but recommended
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Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
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In a large bowl, beat the butter, granulated sugar and icing sugar for a couple of minutes or until light and fluffy.
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Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and beat until smooth.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix just until combined.
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Divide the dough in half. Shape the dough into two discs. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum 30 to 45 minutes.
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Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Lightly dust your rolling surface with flour. Then place the first chilled cookie dough disc on top. Cover the dough with a large piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Roll the dough out to 1/3" thickness, turning the dough as you go, as needed.
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Dip your cookie cutters into flour before cutting your cookies out into shapes.
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Place the cookies onto the cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
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Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes (depending on the size of the cookie) or just until the edges of the cookies are a very light golden color. Check at 10 minutes.
To keep the sugar cookies soft, be sure to:
- measure the dry ingredients carefully
- not overmix the cookie dough
- when rolling out the cookies, cover the cookie dough with parchment paper to prevent the cookie dough from sticking to the rolling pin (you don't need to add as much flour by doing this). It's also important not to roll out the dough too thin. That can also make the cookies hard. Do not roll out the cookies to less than 1/3" thickness
- chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, preferably a bit longer, so it's firm enough to roll out and cut out shapes
- not to over bake the cookies