Holiday Cut Out Cookie Recipe
Versatile Sugar Cookie Dough for any Holiday
If your family loves to bake and eat cut-out cookies, this recipe is perfect for you. My grandmother used to make these cookies every Christmas for her family. They were originally called, "Domino's Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies" but members of my family have changed the recipe over the years to suit their taste.
My mom made these when I was growing up, and when I reached my teen years, the cookie baking duties were handed down to me. I made these cookies when my children were little as well, and as they got older they helped decorate them, and begged to have a sample of the dough because it just tasted so good! It is versatile in that the basic dough can be used to make cut outs for any holiday.
I use this at Christmas of course, but also cut it into hearts for Valentine's Day, four-leaf clovers and leprechauns for St. Patrick's Day, chicks, bunnies and crosses for Easter, flags for Memorial Day and Flag Day, and turkeys and maple leaves for Thanksgiving. My family has always loved these cookies not only because how good they taste, but because they represent a family tradition.
Ingredients:
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon of grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of double acting baking powder
1 egg white, slightly beaten
Directions:
Cream sugar, salt, and butter well. Add egg and beat. Blend lemon rind and vanilla extract into the mixture. Sift flour and baking powder together and gradually stir into the creamed ingredients. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. Grease and flour cookie sheet. Roll 1/4 inch thick with a rolling pin on a well-floured board or piece of wax paper. Use extra flour on the rolling pin if the dough starts to soften and stick. Place cut outs onto cookie sheet, and use a pastry brush to lightly brush egg white onto the tops of cookies to help keep sugar in place. Decorate cookies with colored sugar crystals or jimmies. Press into the dough a bit if necessary or if egg white on top has dried.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until cookies start to brown lightly around edges. Leave on the cookie sheet to cool for 1 minute before taking the cookies off. Let cool on cooling rack.
Enjoy!
