Ingredients for cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
Ingredients for icing:
3 cups of powder sugar sifted
2 tbls of light corn syrup
½ tsp vanilla or almond extract
2-4 tbls of milk
Gel coloring and sprinkles optional
Cookies:
Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer) and beat until creamy and well-combined.
Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined.
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until dough is smooth and completely combined.
Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer approximately half of the dough onto the wrap (dough will be quite sticky at this point, that’s OK!).
Cover dough with clear wrap or wax paper and mold into a flat disk. Wrap tightly. Repeat with remaining cookie dough in another piece of clear wrap. Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill for at least 2-3 hours and up to 5 days.
Once dough has finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (alternatively bake cookies directly on an ungreased baking sheet). Set aside.
Generously dust a clean surface with flour and place one chilled cookie dough disk onto the surface. Lightly flour the dough and roll out to ⅛" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or ¼" (for thicker, softer cookies). Add additional flour as needed both on top of and beneath the dough so that it doesn't stick.
Note: if dough is cracking as you roll it, let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to soften before attempting again.
Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use a spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 1" apart. If you are not intending to decorate your cookies with icing, you can decorate them with sanding sugar at this point before you bake them.
Bake on 350F (175C) for 8-10 minutes (this is for cookies that are approximately 3" [7.6cm]; note that smaller cookies will need less time and larger cookies will need more), or until edges just begin to turn lightly golden brown.
Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before decorating.
Icing:
Combine powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a medium-sized bowl and stir until combined. If frosting is too thick, add more milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is thick but pipeable. If you accidentally add too much milk, add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached.
Divide into bowls and color as desired.
Let them set, thia could take several hours before they can be stacked.
