Easy Sugar Cookies

When I was growing up, my mom was a master cookie baker. Her cookies were super thin and delicate and she would chill the dough and spend hours rolling it out. When I tried to replicate it years later, it was a disaster, so now I use this no-fuss recipe. The trick to making cookies is you need to roll the dough out and make it thin enough. What makes these easy sugar cookies? The dough is easy to roll out, does not require chilling overnight and holds up really well to frosting and decorations.

The Easiest Roll and Bake Sugar Cookies Ever!

Adapted from In Katrina's Kitchen

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Frosting

2 lb (1 bag) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter
Food coloring

Instructions

Cookies

Preheat oven to 350° F.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream room temperature butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in extracts and egg.
In a separate bowl, combine baking powder and salt with flour. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until the dough is crumbly but starting to come together.
Dump the dough out onto a lightly flowered work surface or parchment paper. Knead the dough by hand. Divide dough into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Transfer shapes to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Cookies should be rolled to 1/4 to 1/8 inch (thicker for children's cookies).
Bake at 350° F for 9-10 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Frosting

Beat powdered sugar, vanilla, and butter in a bowl until smooth. Add milk a little at a time to reach desired consistency.
Stir in food coloring to reach the desired color.
Decorate cookies and allow frosting to set.