Sugar Cookies - Best Recipe

This is a perfect cookie recipe.
They hold shape incredibly well and I have cut out dinosaurs, snowflakes, all manner of weird and wonderful creatures with it.
Also, they taste FANTASTIC!  Combine this with royal icing to decorate and yum yum yum!
First you can see some I made like tiny bacon and eggs - sitting in my little girls toy frypan on her play kitchen just too cute!  They loved taking these to school.  The kitty cat ones I just cut in simple circles and decorated with different coloured royal icing with little cats for a friend's birthday.  Use toothpicks to do skinny decorating bits!
Who doesn't love a home-made gift?  Especially one you can EAT!
 

 
This recipe makes approximately 50 regular sized cookies.
 

BASIC SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE

 
3 cups plain (all purpose flour) sifted
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (225g) (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened for about 20 minutes at room temp
1 cup (400g) white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tablespoon (15ml) pure vanilla extract
a little squirt of lemon juice.
 
In a large bowl sift together flour and salt - set aside.
Preheat your oven to170oC
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and pale (about 5 mins) - add in egg
Add flour and mix on low speed till combined.
Add vanilla and lemon
Remove 1/2 the dough from the bowl, make a ball, place on a big piece of plastic wrap, press down with the palm of your hand and made a big disk, wrap with disk.
Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Chill both disks for about 45 minutes (while you clean up!)
Remove a disk, remove plastic wrap - roll between baking paper or on a lightly floured surface.
Rolling will take a bit of work for the first few minutes to soften up the dough.
Roll to an even thickness (usually around 3mm)
Cut into desired shapes and place on a paper lined cookie tray / baking tray.
Bake for for about 10 minutes or until just lightly golden on the edges.
 
 
The only thing you MUST do is chill the dough - or else they DON'T work - they will spread and be blobs.  In fact, if you have time, you can even chill the dough after rolling, then again after cutting shapes!!!  But I usually work quickly and not bother.
 

BASIC ROYAL ICING

 
1 egg white
1 cup pure icing sugar
 
Mix together well.
Cover until using and pop in the fridge if you want to use it later.
Will set hard so perfect for decorating cookies.


Other designs I've made
Bacon and eggs for the kids to take to school - CUUUUTE
 eyeballs - good for halloween!
 little koalas for my son's class at school studying Australian animals


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