This is my go to sugar cookie recipe for when I am decorating cookies with fondant or royal icing.
It is a super easy and quick recipe to make!
Plus it holds its shape very well (due to no leavening agents) while baking which makes it even better for decorating.
This recipe uses powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar which helps with the consistency of the dough. It is also more of a soft type of cookie – not too crunchy, but if you want it crunchier just bake it a little longer.
One thing I don’t like is that sometimes when you move your cut dough shapes onto the pan the shape gets distorted. So what I like to do is cut a piece of parchment paper that fits into my pan and roll the dough onto it. Then I put the parchment on the pan and cut my shapes out leaving a little space in-between the cut outs because that is where they will bake on the pan. Once my shapes are cut I peel away the excess dough and there you have perfectly shaped cut dough ready to go in the oven!
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine
- 2 cups confectioners sugar (a.k.a powdered sugar or icing sugar)
- 3 eggs
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- Cream the butter/ margarine and sugar in a mixer until light and fluffy (about 1 - 2 minutes)
- Add the vanilla and eggs one at a time (dont worry if it looks curdled, just keep mixing and add the flour)
- Add the flour
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to roll without sticking
- Preheat oven to 350 f
- Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of your pan and roll the dough out to a little less than ¼ inch thick (if the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough)
- Place the parchment paper with the rolled out dough onto your baking sheet and cut out your shapes with some space between each shape (that is where they will be baking on the pan)
- Remove the excess dough
- Bake for about 10 - 11 minutes or until edges are just starting to golden
- Let cool on a cookie rack and store in an airtight container for about a week or freeze them (they defrost pretty quickly)
Yummy! So excited to see more!
thanks chaya!!!
Hi Tali! Loved watching you make these for Shlomo’s bar mitzvah! The kids looooved them! Miss you so much!