Easy Holiday Sugar Cookies

 

From Cooks Illustrated; uses Royal Icing recipe.

See Notes at bottom.

INGREDIENTS

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp almond extract

2-1/2 cups (12.5 oz) all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

7 oz caster sugar (aka baker's sugar)

16 Tbl unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces and chilled

PREPARATION

1. Cut butter into 1/2" pieces and chill.

2. In a small bowl whisk egg, vanilla, salt, and almond extract together. 

3. In a medium or large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

4. Add butter and sugar into food processor and process until uniform mass forms and no large pieces of butter are visible, about 30 secs; scrape bowl as needed.

5. Add egg mixture until smooth and paste-like, about 10 secs

6. Add flour mixture and process until no dry flour remains, with mixture becoming crumbly, about 30 secs, scraping sides as needed

7. Turn out dough onto the counter and knead briefly and gently by hand until smooth, about 10 secs.

8. Use a bench scraper to divide dough in half. Set aside one half of the dough for now.

9.  In center of a large sheet of parchment paper, place half the dough and press into a 7" x 9" oval.

10. Place second large sheet of parchment over the dough and roll the dough into 10" x 14" oval, 1" thick. See Note below

11. Transfer the parchment-covered dough to a rimmed baking sheet and repeat steps for the other half of the dough.

12. Place the other rolled out parchment-covered dough onto the first piece and refrigerate together until firm, about 1-1/2 hours.

13. Oven rack to lower-middle position, pre-heated to 300 degrees

14. Gently peel off the top layer parchment and replace it loosely so it covers the dough. This will make cutting and removing cookies easier.

15. Turn over the dough and gently peel off and discard the second piece of parchment (or reserve it?)

16. Use cookie cutters to cut dough into shapes and transfer to prepared cookie sheet, about 1/2" apart.

17. Bake until cookies are lightly and evenly browned around their edges, 14-17 mins. Rotate sheet halfway through.

18. Let cookies cool on sheet for 5 mins then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

19. Repeat with other dough and make Royal Icing while cookies are cooling.

NOTES

1. Make sure to use cold butter directly from the fridge to ensure proper consistency when rolling out the dough.

2. Use rolling pin to roll, press, push, and smear to form soft dough into an oval.

3. Use rimless cookie sheet to help achieve evenly baked cookies. You can also use an overturned rimmed baking sheet.

4. Dough scraps can be combined and re-rolled once, though the baked cookies will be a little less tender.