My Favorite Sugar Cookie recipe

I really love this recipe and to add to the Christmas fun, I made cookie mittens and put them in stockings for an added surprise.........This is the second year I have used this recipe, it is just so quick and easy and the decorating is the best part of this timeless tradition in our home.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Do not preheat oven_ this dough must chill before baking

1 1/2 cups butter melted

2 cups white granulated sugar

4 eggs beaten

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups of flour (no need to sift)

Mix the melted butter with the sugar. Let cool. Add the beaten eggs, baking powder, salt, and vanilla

Add the flour in 1 cup increments

Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours. Overnight is fine too.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 with rack in the middle position.

Divide the dough into four parts for ease in rolling. Roll out the first part of dough on a floured board. It should be about 1/8 thick.

Dip the cookie cutters in flour and cut out cookies, getting as many as you can from the sheet of dough. Use a metal spatula to remove the cookies from the rest of the sheet of dough and place them on an Ungreased cookie sheet. Leave at least 1 1/2 in between cookies.If you want to use colored sugar or sprinkles to decorate, put them on now, before baking. If you'd rather frost the cookies, wait until they are baked and cooled.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until delicately golden in color. Leave them on the sheet for a minute or two and then transfer them to a wire rack to completely cool.

Icing:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

a pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup cream

Mix up icing, adding a little more cream if it's too thick and a little more powdered sugar if it's too thin.

If you like to frost the cookies in different colors, divide the icing and put it in several small bowls. Add drops of the desired food coloring to each bowl.

Use a frosting knife or a brush to paint the cookies you've baked.

I never enjoyed making Sugar cookies until I found this recipe in JoAnne Fluke's book the Sugar Cookie Murder