California State Cookies
~~~~~~~~~~Sugar Cookies~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ingredients~
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
12 Tbs. or 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, I always use Madagascar Bourbon from World Market, great flavor
Food coloring Gel {optional} I didn't for these cookies since I was going to cover with white icing
What To Do~
Over a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, slowly add the sugar and a few drops of food color here if you want to and beat for 2 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until the flour has been absorbed and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 2-3 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 equal balls. Shape into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper. Dip cookie cutter in flour and cut out and lay cut out cookies on parchment paper, bake until golden brown around the edges, about 12-15 minutes. Makes about 15 cookies
Now for the Royal Icing Part....this is my "Go to Video" when I'm decorating cookies with royal icing. I used this recipe when I did the Ball Jar cookies, which came out great. I like how clear and easy it was to follow. He has lots more videos on his youtube channel.