Cutout Cookie Dough Food

THE BEST CUT OUT SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE

Steps:

• Cream together butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer.
• Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined.
• Add flour, baking powder and salt and beat until combined.
• Divide dough into two equal portions.
• Shape each piece of dough into a round, flat disc and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
• Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line two to four large baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
• Remove one sugar cookie dough disc from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften slightly.
• Place sugar cookie dough on a floured surface and roll to ½" or ¼" thickness (thicker = softer cookies).
• Use your favorite cookie cutter shapes and cut out the dough and place them 1" apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
• Repeat until all the dough is used. You can gather and re-roll the dough scraps two additional times (3 times total).
• Use a pastry brush and brush the cookies with a little bit of milk or cream. Then decorate with sprinkles, which will stick to the milk/cream.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and just set around the edges.
• Remove and let sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Repeat with second disc of dough.
• Combine all frosting ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
• Start with 2 TBS milk and increase until your desired consistency is achieved.
• If using food coloring, separate frosting into smaller bowls and add food coloring to your liking.
• Place each color in a disposable piping bag fitted with your tip of choice.
• Once cookies are completely cooled, decorate cookies.
• Let decorated cookies sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours, or until the frosting is completely hardened. Chilling them in the refrigerator helps speed up the setting process.
• Store in an airtight container or on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

PERFECT CUT-OUT COOKIE DOUGH

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Blend egg and vanilla extract into the butter mixture.
• Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl; mix into the butter mixture until just incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and let the dough warm to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Roll dough out onto a flat surface to about 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut dough into shapes with cookie cutters; arrange onto baking sheets.
• Bake cookies until firm in the center, but not yet browning, 8 to 12 minutes. Let cool briefly on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

BASIC BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH

Steps:

• Place flour, sugar, butter, and salt in the bowl of a food processor; process until mixture is the texture of coarse meal.
• In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla; with motor running, add to food processor. Process just until a dough forms.

CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 12 minutes; obviously it depends on the shape you're using and whether they are on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after about 5 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.
• Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack. When they are fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of not-quite-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved confectioners sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Color,as desired. I think pastes are much better than liquid, not just because the range of colors is better but because they don't dilute the icing as they tint. Ice cooled cookies, as desired.

CUT OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar and then add in eggs.
• 2. In a separate bowl or plastic bag, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Mix the dry ingredients in to the butter mixture.
• 3. Cover bowl or put dough in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least 6 hours or overnight.
• 4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• 5. Once chilled, take approximately 1/5 of the dough and place on lightly floured surface. Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and using flour dipped cookie cutters, cut out the dough and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes (oven temps vary so check around 7 mins).

CUTOUT COOKIE DOUGH

Steps:

• Whisk together flour and salt. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy, 4 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and beat until combined. Tint dough by mixing in food coloring: For trees, tint two-thirds the dough green; tint some of remaining dough red and some yellow; leave some plain. Divide green dough into 2 disks. Individually wrap all dough in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

ROLL AND CUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine butter and sugar. Do not take this mixture to a "light cream." Think "incorporate" ? not "cream." Just make sure the mixture is smooth ? no butter lumps.
• In a small bowl mix egg, milk/cream, and extracts. Add this mixture all at once to the butter and sugar. Mix just until the egg is broken. The mixture will "curdle" but that's not a problem.
• In another small bowl, mix the flour and baking powder. Add these dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients in the mixing bowl. Process to form dough.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. It's just that simple! The beauty of this dough is that it does not need to chill before using it. Simply flour a work surface. Knead the dough a few times to smooth it out and with a rolling pin, roll dough. Cut into desired shapes. The dough scraps can be used several times. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

CUT OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar and then add in eggs.
• In a separate bowl or plastic bag, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Mix the dry ingredients in to the butter mixture.
• Cover bowl or put dough in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least 6 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Once chilled, take approximately 1/5 of the dough and place on lightly floured surface. Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and using flour dipped cookie cutters, cut out the dough and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes (oven temps vary so check around 7 mins).

BRIDGET'S CUT OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F.
• Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set this mixture aside.
• In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until combined and fluffy. Beat in the egg and extracts, mixing until combined.
• Add the flour mixture in three parts, mixing on low speed. Scrape down the sides and bottoms of the bowl as needed. After the last addition, the dough will look very thick and crumbly.
• Prepare a rolling surface and roll out a portion of the dough. Cut as many shapes from the dough as possible and place them on a prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
• Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes. Freezing the cookies will help keep them from spreading. Meanwhile, knead the scraps and remaining dough together and continue the rolling, cutting, and freezing process on a second cookie sheet.
• After freezing, immediately bake the cookies on the center rack of your oven for 9 to 12 minutes (for 3.5 to 4-inch cookies), or until they appear done in the center. The baked cookies won't change much in color.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes. With a thin cookie spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.