Sugar Cookies – Part 1

I had promised a while back to give you the recipe for the Sugar Cookies I made for my friends Baby Shower. Well, I forgot {sorry!} until one of my lovely customers requested it today and reminded me.
Before Christmas last year I decided to make some cookies as gifts for friends after finding a gorgeous photo on Pinterest and scoured the internet for a great sugar cookie recipe. I made some sugar cookies + gingerbread cookies and decorated them with royal icing. It was my first attempt and I was pretty pleased with the results, but the sugar cookies did not bake flat enough and my technique definitely needed work.

You may have read recently that I’m in blog love with Annies-Eats.  Anyway, as well as all her delicious creations, turns out she’s quite the dab-hand at sugar cookies and uses every opportunity to whip up a batch and decorate them amazingly!  I used her recipe and icing techinques for the Baby Shower Cookies and these beautiful Mother’s Day cookies that I made for my Mama & Mother in law.  They went down a treat!

So here is the recipe I’ve used a couple of times now – both for the Baby Shower cookies and these ones above. They are delicious, a lovely texture and work really well with the royal icing.

Lemon & Vanilla Bean White Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
227g butter, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1 large egg
2½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise – or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Zest of half a lemon (or the zest of a whole lemon, if you love lemon)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and lemon zest until blended. Mix in the flour and salt on low speed just until incorporated. Form the dough into a ball and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 1-2 hours.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 190 degrees C /375˚ F. Line baking sheets with baking paper. Roll the dough out on a well floured work surface to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters as desired and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking, until fully cooked but not at all browned. Allow to cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

** I would recommend not rolling any thinner than the recommended 1/4 inch simply because the thinner you go, the more chance there is for your cookie to bake a little ‘warped’ and misshapen.

** I also recommend ensuring your oven is not too hot as these can brown VERY quickly and this affects the overall result. Be vigilant with the cooking time!

Good luck!