Happy New Year! I haven’t blogged as much as I like during the past year. This needs to be corrected.

Right before Christmas, I was browsing Not Rachael Ray’s blog and found this recipe for sugar cookies. I had all the ingredients, so I finished baking those cookies. Oh my goodness, these are easy cookies to make. I usually have lots of problems when using cookie cutters. Only a few times did I have a problem.

Last night being New Year’s Eve, I decided to make a batch of sugar cookies and homemade icing so the Imaginative One, the Wee One, and their cousins could decorate sugar cookies while waiting for midnight. With the excitement in the air and the anticipation of the new year, they quickly decorated the cookies (5 to 10 minutes tops) before they were back to playing and their movie marathon. The cookies were soon forgotten. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Rachel offers three different variations for these cookies. I’m only going to list one of the variations, the simple cut-out cookie.

(We had decorated them on placemats, so we did not get my mother-in-law’s table super messy. The Imaginative One and the Wee One got sprinkles and icing all over their mats. So I removed them from the mats to clean them and put their cookies on their plastic bags to dry.)

Sugar Cookies

Not Rachael Ray

Stars of the recipe:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Steps:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.
3. Add milk and flour alternately until combined.
4. Chill dough until easy to handle. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. “Roll dough out on a well-floured board or counter (for crisp cookies, roll to about 1/”” and for softer cookies, roll to about 1/4”).”Roll dough out on a well-floured board or counter (for crisp cookies, roll to about 1/8” and for softer cookies roll to about 1/4”).
6. Cut with floured cutter.
7. Bake at 350*F for 6-7 minutes.

Printable Recipe