Rolled Out Sugar Cookies (that hold their shape)

Rolled out sugar cookies

Sugar cookies are such a fun and delicious treat. Not only is is cool to experiment with new cookie cutters, but also the cookie decorating!

What used to be a Christmas tradition for many, sugar cookies have come a LONG way and the decorating skills have come just as far. Rather you are a beginner or a master, these sugar cookies are the PERFECT cookie to decorate!

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Sugar Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter--softened (can use unsalted butter, just add ½ teaspoon salt to recipe)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 ¼ cup flour

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until smooth.

Then add eggs and vanilla. Mix well, then add the baking soda and baking powder.

Finally add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well in between. After all the flour has been added, the dough should start to come together.

Then you want to roll the dough out at about ¼ inch thickness. Then, use the cookie cutters of your choice to cut out the dough shapes. I used a simple heart cookie cutter that can be found here on Amazon.

I like to freeze the cookie dough shapes before cooking to ensure that the cookie holds its shape in the oven.

I don't pre-heat the oven because I like the cookies to sit in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. When the cookies have been in the freezer for 10 minutes, I begin to pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

Then, put parchement on a cookie sheet (for easy clean up) and bake for 7-9 minutes or until cookies start to look golden around the eges.

Let the cookies cool (they can also be frozen after they are cooled) before eating.

Another super imporant thing about these cookies are that when they have cooled, store them in an air-tight storage so they stay soft!

I like to use this recipe to decorate cookies with royal icing so after they cool, I make my icing.  Even without being decorated, this is a sweet little treat just to munch on.

Royal Icing Ingredients

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoon meringue powder
• ½ cup water
• food coloring (of your choice)

Add all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat it on medium high speed for about 3-4 minutes. Then, slowly add in 1 tablespoon of water at a time until you reach flooding consistency or piping consistency (see photo below).

Decorating sugar cookies: heart

For these cookies, I split the icing into 2 bowls and added red food coloring to one bowl until it was the color pink that I wanted. (This icing is best if you pipe it onto your cookies).

I started with the lighter pink first and then added more pink to do the darking pink cookies.

So the first thing you do after you have the colors you want to use, is to pipe some of the icing around the edge of the sugar cookies. For the striped sugar cookies, I piped the lines with gaps still in the center.

The next step is flooding, so you use the color of your choice of icing and add a little bit of water to it, until the consistency is runny like Elmer's glue or mod podge.

Then, you basically fill in the lines. It is best not to put too much into the gaps though so they don't run out the piped eges. LESS IS MORE!

Take a toothpick to smooth out any bubbles or to help spread the icing around to fill up the cookie. The trick with royal icing is that it will harden, so you have to be somewhat quick about decorating! Then, enjoy!!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed these rolled out sugar cookies as much as I do!

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Rolled out Sugar Cookies

The best sugar cookie recipe for cookie cutters. These cookies hold their shape and stay soft after baking.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword sugar cookies

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 38 minutes

Servings 18 cookies

Calories 331 kcal

Author Joanna Stephens

Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled

Royal Icing:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoon meringue powder
• ½ cup water
• Food Coloring the gel kind

Instructions

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until smooth.

2. Then add eggs and vanilla. Mix well, then add the baking soda and baking powder.

3. Finally add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well in between. After all the flour has been added, the dough should start to come together.

4. Roll the dough out ¼ inch thick and then cut out shapes with your cookie cutters. Place these on a parchment paper and place them in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

5. Then pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the cookies from the freezer and bake for 7-9 minutes (rotating the pan half-way through).

Making the Royal Icing

1. In a large bowl combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water. Whisk on medium high speed for 4 minutes. You want to have stiff peaks form when you lift the whisk out of the icing. (This is piping consistency.)

2. For flooding consistency, divide the icing into smaller bowls and add in the food coloring gel. Stir until well combined. Then, add in 1 tablespoon of water to each bowl. Mix well. (This is flooding consistency.) Add in your choice of coloring and mix until there are no streaks.

3. Decorate your sugar cookies and then let them set out uncoverd for at least 1-2 hours. Once the royal icing is hard you can store them in an air-tight container.

Nutrition Facts

Rolled out Sugar Cookies

Amount Per Serving

Calories 331 Calories from Fat 99

% Daily Value*

Fat 11g17%

Saturated Fat 7g44%

Cholesterol 45mg15%

Sodium 71mg3%

Potassium 46mg1%

Carbohydrates 55g18%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 37g41%

Protein 4g8%

Vitamin A 342IU7%

Calcium 16mg2%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.