The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

Get your favorite cookie cutters out. This is the best sugar cookie recipe there is and it makes a huge batch of this classic favorite.

The chilled dough is rolled out on powdered sugar instead of flour, and for holiday treats, we add colored sugar to the powdered sugar for a festive look.

These helpful hints can be used on other recipes for a similar effect.

The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

5 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
powdered sugar for the work surface

Use an electric mixer and cream together the softened butter and the granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, using a medium low speed. Add the vanilla extract and beat for 30 seconds more.

Whisk together the flour with the baking powder and kosher salt. Stir this mixture into the creamed sugar and butter using a wooden spoon. Thoroughly blend all the ingredients.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least 1 hour, until it stiffens up.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Lightly dust a work surface with the powdered sugar. Roll out the cookie dough to a thickness between 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Cut shapes with your cookie cutters, and lay the cut out cookies on ungreased sheet pans, about 1 inch apart. Be sure to re-roll all the scraps for more cookies.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned. Cool the cookies on wire racks before decorating or wrapping for storage.

Food For Thought - A light glaze goes well with these cookies any time of year, but you can get very decorative around holiday time.

If you need pumpkins or ghosts, use a little orange coloring to tint a basic powdered sugar frosting, or red for Valentines Day, and green shamrocks - you will get plenty of inspiration for decorations every time you make a batch of these cookies.

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