Sugar Cookie Cutouts

This is my second year sending out holiday cookies to my family and friends. I always do the sugar cookie cutouts because it isn't really Christmas for me until I smell these baking in the oven. I wanted to try flooding with royal icing since my icing last year was kind of….messy ☺. I am really happy with the way these turned out. Although by the end of it I was really “cookied” out. I was literally baking and icing non stop for a week straight on top of working. It was crazy!

This Sugar Cookie Recipe that changed my life (well, not really, but seriously this is a fantastic cookie recipe!) so what are you waiting for, get in the kitchen!

The Ultimate Sugar Cookie Cutouts
from: Good Things Catered From her friend Ashlee

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. powdered sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp lemon zest
5 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp saltPowdered sugar, for rolling

Directions:-
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Cream butter and sugars in a mixer for 5 minutes.
-Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.
-Add vanilla, almond, and lemon zest.
-Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt a little at a time.
-Do not over mix, this process should take about one minute.
-Chill dough for up to a week in the fridge, or roll out and cut right away.
-Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake cookies for 7-8 minutes.
-Wait until cookies are cooled before icing.

The Super Cute Reindeer Cutters that I got at Williams-Sonoma this year made some really amazing cookies, but they wern't exactly the most durable things. I made 8 and 4 of them broke while I was trying to pack them up for shipping



Oh no! What to do?

MmMmMmmmm.....yummy reindeer