Perfect Sugar Cookies Every Time

My sweet daughter is a gift-giver. It's in her blood. She loves to give. So every holiday or special occasion, she insists that we give gifts to all her classmates. The gift is always the same ~ sugar cookies! It's funny because she herself doesn't like sugar cookies. She's a chocolate chip girl. But she is convinced that her friends love sugar cookies, especially when she decorates them herself.

Here's our tried and true sugar cookie recipe. We just change the shape and color depending on the season and the gift-giving occasion! Today we made snowflakes, with red sugar (because that's her favorite color). We (the parents... and hopefully the classmates) love these cookies! They are soft, delicious, and come out perfect every time we make them. And they are super easy to make. And did I say perfect every time?

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In large bowl, use mixer to combine butter and sugar until smooth.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla.
• Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

• Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
• Take dough out of the fridge, and roll flat to about 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface.
• Use cookie cutters to cut out cookies and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 6-8 minutes (depending on your pan, you may take them out at 5 minutes... just keep your eye on them... you don't want them to get browned).
• Let sit on pan for 3-5 minutes (let them finish cooking a bit).
• Remove to cool on wire rack.  

Icing:

Mix the following together in a bowl or squeeze bottle and spread over cooled cookies.  If the consistency is off, just add more milk to make it thinner or more sugar to make it thicker.

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons milk
• few drops of vanilla (I have no idea how much, just a little, I hardly ever measure!)

Immediately cover with decorative sprinkles if you're so inclined!

Perfect sugar cookies every time I tell you! Let me know if your experience is the same!

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.