Betty Crocker™ Decor Selects candy sprinkles, nonpareils or colored sugars, if desired
Frosting
2
cups powdered sugar
1/2
teaspoon vanilla
2
tablespoons milk or half-and-half
Instructions
Step
1
In large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, the butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, almond extract and egg until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
Step
2
Heat oven to 375°F. Divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough 3/16 inch thick. Cut into assorted shapes with cookie cutters, or cut around patterns traced from storybook illustrations. If cookies are to be hung as decorations, make a hole in each 1/4 inch from top with end of plastic straw. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Step
3
Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Step
4
In medium bowl, beat all frosting ingredients until smooth and spreadable. Tint with food color if desired. Frost and decorate cookies as desired with frosting and colored sugars.
Be ready for a big baking day by making your cookies ahead of time. Make and bake cookies as directed in recipe. Place baked unfrosted cookies between layers of waxed paper and place in freezer container. Seal tightly and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw cookies, covered, in container at room temperature 1 to 2 hours before decorating.
Lightly flouring the work suface is key to rolling out sugar cookies but another way to roll the dough is between two sheets of waxed paper or baking parchment paper. Lift off the top piece of paper and cut out the dough with your favorite cutters (try to cut the dough out with as little space between as you can, to minimize scraps). To decrease the chance of the cookies spreading too much, pop the baking sheet with the cut-outs into the fridge for a few minutes before sliding them into the oven.
Flat baking sheets are the best choice for making cut-out cookies. The flat sheets allow the air to circulate around the cookies, so they bake evenly and become the right shade of light golden brown. Lining baking sheets with baking parchment makes clean up a breeze.
It’s important to keep the dough chilled, so work in batches as you roll the dough out. Mix the dough just until well blended, then divide it in half. Cover the dough and refrigerate at least 3 hours before rolling. While rolling one half of the dough, keep the other in the refrigerator until ready to use.
For longer storage, consider making a hard-drying royal icing to glaze and decorate cookies you’d like to keep for trimming the tree.
Use a light hand when re-rolling dough scraps, gently pressing them together and rolling them out quickly. If the dough is overworked your cookies will be tough.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size:1 Cookie
Calories
65
Calories from Fat
25
Total Fat
3 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
40 mg
Potassium
10 mg
Total Carbohydrate
9 g
Dietary Fiber
0g
Protein
1 g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
2%
2%
Vitamin C
0%
0%
Calcium
0%
0%
Iron
0%
0%
Exchanges:
1/2 Starch; 1/2 Fat;
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
