Perfect Sugar Cookies

I think this recipe for sugar cookies needs to appear in most parenting books since it’s about the simplest cookie recipe there is, the kids love it, and it takes about 4.2 seconds to throw together. This is baking success. As a parent, you’ll need to produce about 53,768 sugar cookies per kid. On top of that, anytime I have one of The Horde volunteer me to take cookies to a class event, these are my first choice. They're perfect for bake sales, class parties, holidays, gift giving - Who doesn’t love a sugar cookie?

Also fun? Swap out the vanilla extract for almond extract, and you have a more elegant variation with no additional work. Or use coconut, lemon or orange extract...the variations are endless. If you use citrus extracts, add a teaspoon of zest. If you use coconut, roll cookie dough balls in shredded coconut before baking. These cookies really are incredible - either alone or as a base.

Now, these are not the ones that you roll out, use cute cookie cutters with or mess with a lot of decorations. These are a basic butter cookie that drops – meaning they’re fast AND minimal mess. Sure – if you’d like, knock yourself out with any number of icings, frostings or glazes – they’re all good. But quite honestly, these cookies don’t need the dressing up. They are buttery and tender and have no problem standing all by themselves. This is the perfect sugar cookie recipe.

One of my favorite things about this recipe? Super inexpensive! The entire batch costs $2.46, which means .08 each for 30 cookies. So take TWO batches to the next bake sale - you'll look like a rockstar for next to nothing!

Perfect Sugar Cookies Recipe - Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 cup butter, room temperature

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar

• 1 egg

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or almond, orange or lemon extracts...

1. Preheat oven to 375F°. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for about five minutes. Sirt in egg and vanilla. Scrape down sides of the bowl. This helps make sure the ingredients are fully incorporated.
3. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients. With a tablespoon or small disher (ice cream scoop) drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. If using a tablespoon you may wish to roll them to make more perfectly even cookies. A disher does most of this for you - I think they're even on Amazon as "cookie scoops" now.
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until tops are golden. Let sit on cookie sheet two or three minutes before removing to cool completely on wire racks.