The Ultimate Sugar Cookie

I finally broke down and made sugar cookies for Valentines day.  I say that because I know that if I make them I am going to eat them!  This recipe really is “The Ultimate Sugar Cookie.”  I don’t know if any of you ever go to the little cookie shops around your area and get a big sugar cookie with the cream cheese frosting and you savor every bite, well here is the recipe for those big fat cookies!

When you roll the dough out, you want them to be about 1/4″ thick or even a little more! I cut out some of the great big hearts and some of these smaller hearts.I had two of the best little helpers here with me today making our favorite sugar cookies!

The Ultimate Sugar Cookie adapted from rubyglen.com

(These tender sugar cookies have a delicious buttery flavor with a hint of almond or lemon. For an extra festive touch, put a little food coloring in the dough.)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond OR lemon extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a medium bowl, sift or stir the flour, (You must sift or stir flour, or the cookies will be too heavy!), baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, whip butter until creamy.  Add sugar and mix well.  Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond-or-lemon extract until well combined.

3.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Mix until just combined.

4.  Divide the dough and form into two disks.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

5.  On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with cookie cutter.  Brush off any excess flour and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

6.  If not icing the cookie, you can sprinkle with granulated sugar.

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are just lightly browned on the bottom.  Do not over bake if you want soft cookies.

8.  Place cookies on a cooling rack.  Wait until they are completely cooled before icing.

9.  Frost cookies and decorate as desired.

Ultimate Cookie Icing

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (do not use light or fat free, they will not thicken up)

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract

5-6 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream (can substitute with canned milk)

1.  Place the butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with a mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2.  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla or almond extract, and 5 Tablespoons of the cream.  Mix until incorporated.  If the icing is too thick and needs to be thinned, add an additional Tablespoon of cream, if too much cream is added, add a little more powdered sugar. ( I find that this a very soft icing and usually have to add a little more powdered sugar).  Add food coloring if desired.  Frost cooled cookies.

 

Here are the cookies cooling on the rack.  You do not want them to be brown on the top, only a little bit on the bottom, unless you like a crispy cookie, not a soft one.

Now you can frost and decorate your cookies any way that you would like!

Don’t I just have the cutest little helper here?

I used the no mess frosting idea and I piped the frosting on the cookies.  This is a very soft frosting, so it is a little bit harder to work with, but the taste is well worth the effort!You can add sprinkles, edible glitter, Ju Ju’s or anything that your little heart desires!The smaller cookies fit perfectly in the little Chinese take out boxes.  I could fit two in each box!Or perhaps you can just make a fun plate full to give to someone special!Even clean-up was fun with these two monkeys to help me!Valentine sugar cookies have been a tradition in our house for many years, and it was fun to spend the afternoon with two of my grandchildren making memories and carrying on this fun tradition.  Do you have any fun traditions that you like to do?  When my kids were younger and all at home, I used to make a nice dinner for Valentines day.  We would use the good china and silverware and try to work on some of our etiquette rules.  Sometimes this worked out well and sometimes we didn’t learn much, but we still had fun!  :)  It was good practice for them when they got older and were dating, at least they had a little knowledge, right?

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