Easy Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Icing
Cost: 3
Equipment
- Cookie cutters
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsps vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tsps cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
Buttercream Icing
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 lb powdered sugar
- 2-4 Tbsps milk
- food coloring, optional
- sprinkles, optional
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, shortening, sugar and eggs until smooth.
- Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Gradually mix in to wet ingredients until completely combined and a sticky dough forms.
- Cover and refrigerate dough at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with cookie cutters or the rim of a glass jar.
- Place cookies about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet or non-stick baking mat. Bake 6-8 minutes. Cookies will still be pale on the top but golden on the bottom.
- Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely before icing.
Buttercream Icing
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar and milk, mixing well.
- Mix icing until smooth but not too thin. Add additional powdered sugar to reach the desired consistency. You want it to be a spreadable thickness.
- Divide icing to individual bowls and add 1-2 drops of food coloring for each color (or if coloring all the same color you can do this in the step above).
- Spread desired amount of icing over each cookie and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
Working your dough in small batches will help it spread and cut easier since it will stay cold longer. If it gets too warm just put dough back in the refrigerator and let it chill again.
Yields 2-3 dozen cookies.