Elaines Holiday Cut Out Sugar Cookies Christmas Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Cream butter and sugar.
• Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
• Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
• Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, to chill dough before rolling.
• Roll dough thickly. (about 1/4"). If you roll them too thin, they are hard to work with.
• Cut shapes, and put on an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake 10-12 minutes.
• Cool on rack.
• Frost with your favorite frosting, icing, or glaze.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.
• Mix confectioners' sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and almond extract in a bowl with an electric mixer until it comes together well and butter is not clumpy. Slowly mix in baking soda and cream of tarter, then flour. When the dough becomes tougher to mix, use your hands to mash and knead until the dough is completely formed.
• Transfer dough to a large, floured work surface. Carefully roll to a thickness of about 1 centimeter or a little more; the thicker the dough, the softer the cookie. (These cookies will puff up in the oven.) Add flour to your work surface, the dough, and the rolling pin as needed.
• Cut out as many shapes as you can cleverly fit in the dough. Remove any extra dough from the perimeters of your cookies. Save all the scraps and roll into another ball for the next round of rolling and cutting out cookies.
• Delicately transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch of space between each one.
• Bake one tray at a time on the middle rack of the preheated oven, until cookies are still white on top and have fluffed up, 7 to 8 minutes. If they brown lightly along the edges, they should be removed immediately. Let the cookies sit on the tray for 1 minute and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool while you bake the second sheet of cookies.
• While cookies are cooling, prepare frosting by beating butter, egg white, and vanilla together in a bowl until creamy. Slowly mix in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Divide frosting into smaller bowls. Add 2 to 3 drops food coloring per bowl and mix well.
• Apply a thick layer of frosting to cooled cookies, spreading as smoothly as you can. Leave cookies on wire racks and cover with waxed paper. Let sit until frosting has hardened, 8 hours to overnight.

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill until firm, 1 hour. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in thickness. Cut out with Christmas cookie cutters of your choice. Using a floured spatula, transfer cookies to greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° until lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks., Decorate cookies with frosting and colored sugars.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a portion of cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minute, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Cool completely on pans about 5 minutes, transfer to cooling racks and cool completely before decorating.
• In a small bowl, mix sugar and water to form a thick, smooth icing. Stir in food coloring to reach desired shade. Drop icing onto cookies using a small teaspoon and smooth with the back of the spoon. Make additional bowls for additional colors.
• Additional multi-colored sprinkles can be added on top of icing before it dries for more decorative cookies, if desired.

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, the butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, almond extract and egg until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough 3/16 inch thick. Cut into assorted shapes with cookie cutters, or cut around patterns traced from storybook illustrations. If cookies are to be hung as decorations, make a hole in each 1/4 inch from top with end of plastic straw. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• In medium bowl, beat all frosting ingredients until smooth and spreadable. Tint with food color if desired. Frost and decorate cookies as desired with frosting and colored sugars.