Sugar Cookies

This sugar cookie recipe is my favorite because it is perfect for cut-outs. I use it for every holiday. Sugar cookies can be pretty bland and that's why they are usually covered in icing, but I am not a fan of icing on cookies (and scrape it off whenever I find it) so the cookies have to taste good. These are amazing. Very flavorful and just the right balance of soft and chewy with crisp edges. But my very favorite quality of these cookies is that you can get away with using 100% whole wheat and they still taste sinful. Of course, if you want to use 100% all-purpose flour, that's awesome, too. :)

You will need:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (I use Smart Balance sticks, of course)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
food coloring (optional)



Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In your mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until it lightens in color. About one minute.



Add egg, vanilla, and food coloring if you want. I used a rose color and hit it with about 4 drops.



Add half the flour, the baking powder, and the baking soda. Mix and then add the rest of the flour. (My dough was a pretty dusty rose color but I wanted it a bit darker, so I hit the dough with a few more drops of color.)



(If you don't want to cut the dough into shapes then roll the dough into 1-inch balls, roll in sugar, place on your greased baking sheet, and flatten slightly.)


For cut-outs, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes.



Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into desired shapes. I cut my dough into hearts, X's and O's for Valentine's Day. Tink asked if we could play tic-tac-toe. :)



Place cookies on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Since I don't add icing I pressed a little bit of colored sugar into each cookie. Bake for 14 minutes. They will still be a little soft in the middle when they come out.





A delicious holiday treat!! If you use whole wheat then you should probably eat twice as many cookies so that you make your daily whole grain allowance. :)






Enjoy!!