It’s become a tradition in our family to get all the kids together before Christmas Eve to decorate cookies for Santa. They love smearing the royal icing on the cookies and getting creative. Not gonna lie…the kids eat most of the royal icing before it gets to the cookies, they almost always use way too many sprinkles and it’s a huge mess. But, they have a blast and then I send them home to their parents to deal with the sugar rush.I have been making these rolled sugar cookies for years. I like my sugar cookies to be thick and slightly soft, but if you like a crunchier cookie just roll your dough out thinner. It’s important to chill the dough before rolling it out and after cutting the cookie shapes.  This will help the cookies retain their shape during baking.

This recipe makes about 30 cookies…but you can easily halve this recipe if you like.

Sugar cookies are fun for any occasion…try heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s Day or any other shape you can think of! I prefer to decorate my sugar cookies with fondant…but royal icing is delicious, too! You can find my favourite Royal Icing recipe here.

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp almond or vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until fully combined. 
2. Add the eggs and almond extract.
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in the flour and baking powder, one cup at a time, until fully incorporated.
4. Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours or overnight. The dough can also be frozen at this point for later use.
5. Preheat oven to 400F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. 
6. Once dough has chilled, roll out to 1/4  to 1/2 inch thickness and use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes.
7. Place cookie cut-outs on prepared baking sheets and put the entire baking sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill. 
8.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

*Yield: Approximately 30 cookies