Sugar Cookie Cut Outs

These are old-fashioned Sugar Cookie Cut Outs. The kind that Mom used to make.

The soft dough can be thinly rolled out and cut into your favorite shapes or put through a cookie press. The flat cookies are easily decorated for the holidays or any special occasion.

Give yourself plenty of time to make these treats because they will need some time in the refrigerator to stiffen up a bit. The extra time will be worth it - crisp, tender and sweet - everything you want in a sugar cookie!

Sugar Cookie Cut Outs

4 1/2 cps all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 by 1, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and the kosher salt. Sift this mixture twice more. If you don't have a sifter, pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer onto a sheet of waxed paper 3 times.

Gradually add the sifted mixture into the creamed butter and sugar and stir the dough until it is just combined.

Form the dough into a ball and wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly coat your cookie sheets with cooking spray or vegetable oil.

Lightly flour a work surface. Cut the ball of dough into to pieces and roll them out, 1 ant a time, to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Cut into your favorite shapes with floured cutters, and place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in the hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The bottoms should be lightly browned and the tops should be just turning golden. Let the cookies cool completely on wire racks before storing in an airtight container.

Good To Know - If you don't want to wait for the dough to chill, roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the cookie sheets at least 2 inches apart. You can also individually freeze the balls of dough then store them in an airtight container. When you need cookies, just take out the number you want and bake them frozen, no need to let them thaw out.

Food For Thought - Jazz these up just a bit with 1 tablespoon of grated orange zest and a teaspoon of orange juice instead of the vanilla extract - the orange gives the cookies a little extra zip and keeps them fresh tasting up to 5 days.

You Might Need:

• Kitchen Supply Aluminum Half Size Sheet Pan 18-inch by 13-inch

• Calphalon 12-by-17-Inch Rectangular Nonstick Cooling Rack

• Silpat 11-5/8-by-16-1/2-Inch Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat

• Oxo Good Grips Cookie Scoop