Sugar Cookies

So, the last time I made sugar cookies, I was proud of myself, but I definitely saw room for improvement.  After reading multiple posts over the last year and recognizing where I went wrong in the past, I decided to give these sugar cookies another try.

My B.F.F. and ‘adopted sister’ K was celebrating her 27th birthday and had recently had a baby.  Additionally, another of the sous chef and I’s friend’s had a baby as well shortly after K.  I thought each of them was HIGHLY deserving a sweet treat delivered by their postman.  Getting packages in the mail is FUN!

After a good deal of planning and thinking out how I would get these cookies to these sweet girls, I moved forward in my execution of the project :)

I decided on making Ella’s White Sugar Cookies which I found on  Annie’s Eats. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ t. almond extract
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
2 ½ c. sifted flour

Directions

Cream butter.  Add powdered sugar.  Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour.  Chill dough until firm.  Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface.  Cut with cookie cutters.  Place on greased cookie sheets.  Bake at 375° for 8-10 min.  Cookies should not brown.  Frost and decorate when cool.  Yields ~40 cookies.

I also used Annie’s terrific tutorial on decorating with royal icing.  I still have some perfecting to do, but I was decently proud of myself for what I was able to accomplish :) The tricky part was getting ready to ship these cookies off to other states and trusting USPS with them!  I didn’t spend 2 days on these delicious and beautiful cookies only for them to break, right?!  So I packaged them VERY well and wrapped each cookie in a baggie.  Our friends in Louisiana received them in OK condition as the picture at the top of this posts displays.

My B.F.F. K received her cookies in great condition, too!  See below. I’m looking forward to making more of these delicious cookies!