VAIN Foods LLC was on WIBW with Chef Alli talking about sugar cookies! You don't have to be afraid of your cookie cutters this year! Don't forget to try VAIN's vanilla in your recipe!

Watch the WIBW segment on youtube!

Kate’s Sugar Cookie Cutouts

This recipe came from Kate Banks, co-owner of Vain Foods, Kansas City, KS.  It makes a nice, sturdy cookie dough that won’t fall apart when you roll it out, yet the texture of the cookies is still tender. Rolling out the cookie dough with powdered sugar instead of flour works great!

 3 cups all-purpose flour
 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
 1 egg, beaten
1 Tbs. milk
 1 tsp. vanilla extract, I use our VAIN Original Baker’s Blend
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg, vanilla and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, creating a flat disc with each half, then wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped dough disc from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking to your work surface. If dough has warmed during rolling, place a cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill.

Cut rolled dough into desired shapes, placing them1-inch apart on a greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, just until cookies are beginning to brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time.

Let  cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven, then move to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Serve cookies as is, or ice with Royal Icing (recipe below), as desired. Store cookies in airtight container for up to 1 week or freezer for up to 6 months. Dough will freeze well also. 

 Royal Icing

3 ounces pasteurized egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract,  such as VAIN Original Baker’s Blend
4 cups confectioners' sugar

In large bowl of stand mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy-duty freezer bag; clip corner of bag and pipe as desired. Store icing in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Kate’s Sugar Cookie Tips For Success

• When rolling out the dough in this recipe, make sure the dough will easily move around on your surface when you test it.  This tells you that the dough isn’t adhered to your work surface and your cookies can easily be lifted to a baking sheet.
• After removing the dough from refrigeration, use your rolling pin to test dough; if it easily rolls out, continue.  If dough resists, this means it’s too cold and simply needs to rest a bit at room temperature.  Wait a few minutes, then try rolling the dough out again. 
• Use powdered sugar for rolling out the dough instead of flour; this ensures the cookies will have a more tender texture.
• If dough gets too warm and won’t cooperate as you’re rolling it out and trying to lift the cutouts to a baking sheet, cool the dough by placing a chilled cookie sheet on top for a few minutes.  This will harden the butter up a bit in the dough, making it easier to work with again.
• To make the most of your dough, roll it out to ¼” thickness then place all your cookie cutters on top. Working them in as close as possible to each other, optimize the number of cookies you can get from the dough, then press them down, all at once to gain your cutouts. 
• Because this dough holds its shape really well when baking, the cookies won’t spread out much on the baking sheet, so they can be placed fairly close together on the baking sheet as you cut them out. 
• Have several baking sheets available as you bake these sugar cookies, rotating them so that you are placing your dough cutouts onto cool baking sheets each time.  

• chef alli