My favorite recipe for sugar cookies comes from Kitchen Collectibles, a website full of every imaginable cookie cutter. I get most of my cookie cutters from this website, which I happened upon years ago when I was searching for ocean themed cutters to use for my wedding cookie favors. What I love about the recipe is that the cookies don’t spread while they’re cooking, so what you place on the pan is what you get after they are baked.
Kitchen Collectibles’ website has great tutorials and inspiration for use with their cookie cutters.
No Fail Sugar Cookies
Preheat oven thirty minutes before you begin. (This recipe makes a lot of cookies, so I usually cut the recipe in half or save half of it to freeze and use later.)
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little
at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.
Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)
Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe
can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies.
HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess — Rather than wait for your cookie dough to
chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.
Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator.
Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the
first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus
is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.
Royal Icing
Makes 3 cups of base consistency icing
3 3/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
3 T meringue powder
6 T warm water
Beat 4 to 5 minutes
By hand, stir in optional flavorings and desired tints.
Add 8 T of warm water if you want flow consistency.
Jen Maan in Amman 
Dear Jen,
Hope you are hydrating yourself now for the upcoming run. Mas importante’.!!!!!!!…I will be eating the cookies from your cookie recipe..yummmmmmmmm…if I have the patience to bake them. So far in our new oven I have baked some great Pumpkin bread, with additives that I know Mary loved..because they were dark chocolate chips. Wish I had some of your cookies for tomorrow…think the Trader Joe’s Chocolate and card will have to suffice! Thanks for your great recipes,inspiration and enthusiasum .
Hi Dick,
You had to bring up Trader Joe’s, huh? How I miss that store and the products…especially around the holidays, not that V-Day really counts, but you can always count on TJ’s for good food.
I’ve been craving pumpkin bread ever since I used up the last of our pumpkin puree (months ago). Thanks for reminding me that I need to ask my mom for another can of it.
Take care…
JEn, they sound delicious! I hope you guys have a great Valentine’s Day! 🙂
I also meant to say that I think your artwork on the cookies would make it hard for me to bite into them destroying it!
And what the heck is going on with my computer and the posting function? Makes it look like I hit the sauce too hard before I clicked “Post Comment.” Haha!
It’s okay if you hit the sauce this early. It is Valentine’s Day after all and given that you’re engaged and all, I’m sure it’s going to be a great day.
If Raj were working there, you’d be on the cookie recipient list, which you may not realize is only for VIPs.
I also forgot to mention that YOU and YOUR fiance would get LOTS and LOTS of cookies, unlike your roommate and his girlfriend who are TOO busy to be bothered commenting. Raj will remember YOU for this!!!
The cookies are absolutely beautiful! I have to make them now!
How did all of your followers beat me. Your cookies are beautiful but way too much work!
You’re WAY too slow. If you want to win all of the prizes, you’ll have to start waking up in the middle of the night.
Great looking cookies but where are mine. If I have to count on Dick and his baking skills I will be waitng a long time. I gave Dick a great cookbook and I am expecting big things from him and his new kitchen. Nicole, how did you miss the first blog? (and where are my cookies) Happy Valentine’s Day to my sweet, loving, adorable daughters, I will give Nicole and Mom an extra kiss for you Jen. Much Love, Dad
Beautiful cookies! Thanks for liking my post and introducing me to your wonderful blog! Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day. d
Jen, your cookies look like you cut a picture out of a cook book and placed it on your blog. Are you sure these are actual cookies you baked and iced. Kidding aside, they are beautiful. Happy Valentine’s day to my two favorite children in Jordan. Who got to eat all these beauties?
Mom
Is this my mom? Thanks. Raj isn’t a fan of sugar cookies so he got cupcakes and gave the rest of the cookies away at work.
Absolutely beautiful decorating work!
Your desserts are so beautiful!
Love these. Decoration perfect!
Thanks. The pictures on your blog are AMAZING! They look fairy-bookish (if that’s a word).
They look amazing!
I loved looking through your blog, especially all the recipes. They look good, especially the cookies.
Thanks also for stopping by my blog and clicking a like button. I’m not sure how you got to it, although it was probably me writing about Penzey’s. Great store!
Nancy
I love your photos! I did find you from your Penzey’s post. It’s one of my favorite stores and one that I greatly miss perusing on weekends (I’m currently posted in the middle east). Thanks for posting the pictures of it so that I could live vicariously through your eyes.
You’re welcome. I’ve been doing more of those posts, i.e. what I’ve been up, walking around, my life type of things and my readers have really liked it. That Penzey’s is an old part of Richmond Virginia called Carytown, which is why the brick walls were so cool.
I see an E-mail on your gravatar and will send you separately some other links that you might like.
Thanks for the links. I’m embarrassed to say that we never made it to Richmond while we were living there. We’ll be back soon enough and the botanical gardens, Brown’s Island, and Penzey’s will certainly be on the list of things to do!
I’m looking forward to seeing more beautiful pics on your blog.
Thanks for liking my Valentines Day post and introducing me to your blog, I hope through reading it I will be inspired to start doing yoga again!
Beautiful!
Now this is what a sugar cookie should look like! 😉