Holiday Baking Week: The Basics—Sugar Cookies

The holidays are upon us now that we are in the home stretch of December. And with those tidings of good cheer also comes a lot of prepping before we host our parties and gather our family and friends into our hearths and our hearts.

For me, that prepping means baking since I don't host a turkey dinner or any sort of such feast. While I would love to be able to make 10 different varieties of cookies, I simply don't have the time to, so over the years I've narrowed it down to two basic recipes plus two or three different recipes for variety. My two basic recipes are: sugar cookies and gingerbread. You can decorate and transform these two basic recipes with a few changes here and there to make it look like you made four or five different recipes. I call it wowing your friends without all the work.

The key to keeping your sanity with holiday baking is to make big batches of the above two doughs then to freeze the dough into discs and then bake them off and decorate as needed. Or, to spend one day making large quantities of the above dough and make several dozen batches of cookies. (They also make pretty gifts.)

So here is the basic sugar cookie recipe:

Sugar Cookies
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar or 1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease; set aside.

Spoon flour into dry measure, filling until heaping.

Using flat side of knife, sweep off excess flour

Place in bowl; add baking powder and salt, stirring to combine. Set aside.

In large bowl and using electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy; beat in sugar in 3 additions.

Beat in egg and vanilla.

Using wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture in 3 additions.

Divide dough in half; flatten each slightly.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to 24 hours.

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough, 1 piece at a time, to 1/4-inch (5 mm) thickness.

Using shaped cookie cutter, cut out shapes.

Press scraps together to reroll.

Bake in centre of oven for about 10 minutes or until light golden on bottom and edges.

Let cool for 1 minute on baking sheets.

With spatula, transfer to racks; let cool completely.
(Recipe from Canadian Living Cooks.)

And now here comes the fun part — the decorating! The sky's the limits here, really. Get whatever shaped cookie cutters you want and decorate them as you want, with a fine tip icing head, with sprinkles or candy. Ice just the edges or the entire thing, it's up to you. Here are some inspirational cookies to get you started.