Sugar cookies

In the spirit of Halloween, I made some sugar cookies. I wanted to try my hand at icing them in beautiful colors and decorate them to my heart's content. I have never had much success with cut-out cookies since many recipes I have tried in the past did not roll out well. The scraps were impossible to roll out even if they were chilled. I guess now I have found the right recipe. This recipe comes from Alton Brown and if you have seen his show Good Eats, you will know why his recipes can be trusted a great deal. It was with this faith that I used his recipe.




Needless to say, this is a beautiful dough. It rolls out well, without becoming sticky and soft. You can use the dough till the last ounce without any change in the cookies' texture. These cookies are buttery, slightly crisp and not too sweet (even when I increased the sugar by 1/4 cup). They tasted so great plain that we felt that icing it spoiled the flavor.

Alton's sugar cookies (adapted slightly)

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1- 1.25 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Cinnamon sugar or colored sugar for sprinkling on top, optional

Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg, vanilla and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shape, place on baking sheet lined with parchment, or silicone baking mat. Sprinkle cinnamon or colored sugar on top or leave it plain. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack.