Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

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A perfect cut-out sugar cookie that holds it shape after baking! Decorate with royal icing for a real stand out cookie this holiday season!

Tis the season for all things cookie related! Bring on the powdered sugar and butter in mass quantities. And amidst all the cookie swap recipes out there, the one that stands alone time and time again. The classic cut-out sugar cookie. Every self respected cookie platter has a sugar cookie adorning it in some cute shape.

I brought these to a holiday part, a “Christmaka” to be exact, last Saturday and decided to flex my cookie and decorating muscles. I have to admit I have never decorated cookies in royal icing. The whole two step icing process has always sounded so daunting to me.

But I promise you that you can do this.

How To Make These Cut Out Sugar Cookies

This cookie dough is simple to make. Start by pre-heating your oven to 375oF and preparing your cookie sheets with parchment paper. I am in love with these parchment sheets that make it super easy to prep your cookie sheets during cookie season.

You want to then make the dough by creaming together your butter and powdered sugar together in your stand mixer. And then add in the 1 room temperature egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, salt and flour.

And then roll out the cookie dough until it’s a 1/4-inch thickness. And get to using your cookie cutters. You want to bake these for 8-1o minutes. Make sure to properly cool these on a cooling rack before decorating.

How To Make Royal Icing

Once the cookies are cooled, it’s time to decorate!

If you have never worked with royal icing let me give you the low down on this sugary concoction. Royal icing is an icing made with either egg whites or meringue powder.

I prefer meringue powder, because its easier to keep a container of this your pantry. Meringue powder is combined with a lot of powdered sugar, and water. That’s it. It’s then whipped up to very stiff peaks. It is a very stable icing that can then be thinned to your desired consistency to decorate with.

There are three typical consistencies. Until recently I knew of only two. The very thick consistency is called outline icing and is used (as you might have guessed) to outline the cookie. Then you thin the icing even more to a flood icing. This is a very thin consistency to fill in the outline. Here’s my issue with that. So in order to have beautifully decorated cookies, I have to separate my icing into small bowls. Color it. Fill into bags. Outline. Let it dry. Then thin the icing one more time. Fill MORE bags. And fill the cookies. Hello lots of work!

Enter 20 second icing. This stuff will totally transform you. It will make you get back in the kitchen and break out your mixer to whip up some royal icing and cookies this instant. What is 20 second icing? This icing is somewhere in the middle of the first two icings on consistency. And the best part? No outlining. No drying in between. No second bag filling. It’s all done in one step. That’s it!

If you want a more detailed tutorial, then you need to the visit the source herself, The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. Now I have no idea if I got the “20 seconds” down or not, I tried timing it on my phone and it seemed to come close. It may have been more like 15 or 18 but for me it worked. It had the consistency of honey, and stayed on my cookie when piped. Perfect for me!

Tips For Making These Cut Out Sugar Cookies

• You want to make sure to properly measure your flour accurately by scooping and levelling with a flat edge. For best accuracy I recommend using a kitchen scale. For a complete how and why you should measure your flour accurately you can read this post.
• Make sure your egg is at room temperature before adding to your dough so it combines accurately. I place the egg in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using it.
• You need to make sure to use room temperature butter. If the butter is too cold, the sugar cannot probably cream together with the butter and aerate the mixture. Here are 3 easy ways to bring butter to room temperature quickly. For more information on what butter does in cookies, read this post.
• Make sure to not handle the dough too much when rolling it out which can warm up the dough and cause the cookies to spread.
• Chilling is a must. When you are rolling out and cutting out your cookies. You can always pop the whole cookie sheet back in the fridge for a few minutes before popping them in the oven.
• Be careful not to let these cookies brown. Ten minutes worked like magic for me, but hey your oven is not mine. Start with 8 minutes and go from there. I like to have my cookie slightly browned on the bottom and then just a hint on the sides. Watch it carefully. Sugar cookies can go quickly from perfect to overbaked before you know it.
• If you are using the same cookie sheet again and again, make sure it is completely cooled before placing more cookies on for them to bake.
• I like rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Ovens hot spots which can cause uneven baking.
• Don’t feel like making all these cookies at once? Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for later. I wrapped mine in plastic wrap and then put in a large Ziploc bag. When I was ready to make more, I simply pulled it out the freezer and let it defrost on the counter for a few hours. Freezing cookies and other desserts is how I survive the holidays. Get my FULL freezer guide here.

Ok, we can’t forget about the cookies. These are a great easy cookie that has a great almond flavor and an almost shortbread like texture. I love almond extract. If you can’t have it or worried about nut allergies, you could always just use extra vanilla extract.

So this holiday season impress everyone with these easy to ice sugar cookies and never fear royal icing again!

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Print Recipe

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

A cut-out sugar cookie that holds it shape while baking, decorated in easy decorate with royal icing!

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Chilling Time1 hr

Total Time25 mins

Servings: 40 cookies

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 1 cup (226 grams) butter softened to room temperature
• 1 cup (114 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
• 1 large egg room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 ½ tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 ½ cups (285 grams) sifted flour

For the royal icing

• 2 pounds {one bag} confectioner's sugar {907 grams}
• 5 tablespoons meringue powder {approximately 53 grams}
• 2-3 teaspoons oil-free extract or emulsion
• 1/2-3/4 cups warm water

Instructions

To Make The Cookies:

• Pre-heat your oven to 375^oC/190^oC. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper (I use two cookie sheets and just bake one batch at a time, that way I am not placing cookies onto a hot cookie sheet).
• In a stand mixer fitted with your paddle attachment, Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm (about 60 minutes). Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool. Yields ~40 cookies.

To Make The Royal icing

• For the royal icing, begin by stirring the flavoring into half the water. Using a paddle attachment, gently mix the sugar and meringue powder. It's not necessary to sift the sugar beforehand, but you can if you like. With the mixer on it's lowest setting slowly add the water/flavoring mix to the dry ingredients. As the water is added, the icing will become thick and lumpy. Continue to add the remaining water {this may or may not be the entire amount} until the mixture reaches a thick, honey like consistency. At this point, turn the mixer to medium speed and whip 2-4 minutes until this icing is thick and fluffy. Mixing time can vary greatly so watch carefully and stop mixing when the icing is this enough to form a soft peak. To thin for 20-second icing, sprinkle or even better, use a spray bottle and add enough water to thin the icing so that when a spatula is run through it, the gap left behind disappears in 20 seconds.

Notes

• You want to make sure to properly measure your flour accurately by scooping and levelling with a flat edge. For best accuracy I recommend using a kitchen scale. For a complete how and why you should measure your flour accurately you can read this post. 
• Make sure your egg is at room temperature before adding to your dough so it combines accurately. I place the egg in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using it. 
• You need to make sure to use room temperature butter. If the butter is too cold, the sugar cannot probably cream together with the butter and aerate the mixture. Here are 3 easy ways to bring butter to room temperature quickly. For more information on what butter does in cookies, read this post. 
• Make sure to not handle the dough too much when rolling it out which can warm up the dough and cause the cookies to spread.
• Chilling is a must. When you are rolling out and cutting out your cookies. You can always pop the whole cookie sheet back in the fridge for a few minutes before popping them in the oven.
• Be careful not to let these cookies brown. Ten minutes worked like magic for me, but hey your oven is not mine. Start with 8 minutes and go from there. I like to have my cookie slightly browned on the bottom and then just a hint on the sides. Watch it carefully. Sugar cookies can go quickly from perfect to overbaked before you know it.
• If you are using the same cookie sheet again and again, make sure it is completely cooled before placing more cookies on for them to bake.
• I like rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Ovens hot spots which can cause uneven baking.
• Don't feel like making all these cookies at once? Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for later. I wrapped mine in plastic wrap and then put in a large Ziploc bag. When I was ready to make more, I simply pulled it out the freezer and let it defrost on the counter for a few hours.

Adapted from Annie's Eats