This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and Sunday is Mother's Day. What better way to thank these special people than with a batch of homemade cookies decorated just for them. The recipe we used in class is below. The recipe can be cut in half for smaller batches.
Cutout Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 lb. of butter, softened
4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.
Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in a preheated oven.
Cool completely before decorating.
These completely cooled cookies can be decorated with commercially canned icing or the homemade decorative icing recipe that follows. The different color icings can be individually bagged in Ziplocs. A tiny hole can be clipped out at the corner with scissors. Ziplocscan be thrown away, making for less clean up.
Sugar Cookie Icing
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup water
Directions:
Sift the powder sugar
Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix together until smooth