Pure Vanilla Sugar Cookies (Printer-friendly)

Soft vanilla sugar cookies finished with smooth royal icing, ideal for parties and festive occasions.

# What You Need:

→ Sugar Cookie Dough

01 - 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
03 - 1/4 teaspoon salt
04 - 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
05 - 1 cup granulated sugar
06 - 1 large egg
07 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
08 - 1 tablespoon milk

→ Royal Icing

09 - 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
10 - 2 tablespoons meringue powder
11 - 4 to 5 tablespoons warm water
12 - 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
13 - Gel food coloring in blue, yellow, and white for decoration

# How to Make It:

01 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
02 - In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
03 - Add the egg, vanilla extract, and milk to the butter mixture. Mix until fully combined.
04 - Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until the dough comes together without overworking.
05 - Divide the dough in half, flatten into disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
06 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
07 - On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters.
08 - Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart.
09 - Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are just beginning to turn golden. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
10 - In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla extract, and 4 tablespoons water. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth and glossy, adding additional water 1 teaspoon at a time to achieve desired consistency.
11 - Divide icing into separate bowls and tint each portion with gel food coloring as desired.
12 - Decorate fully cooled cookies with royal icing using piping bags or squeeze bottles. Allow icing to set completely before serving or storing.

# Cooking Tips:

01 -
  • The dough stays forgiving even if you're not a seasoned baker—it's genuinely hard to mess up.
  • Royal icing transforms plain cookies into showstoppers that actually look like you spent three hours decorating them.
  • They're sturdy enough to ship to friends or stack in a pretty box, which makes gift-giving feel less stressful.
02 -
  • Under-baking is your friend here—cookies that look slightly underdone will set up perfectly as they cool and stay soft inside with crispy edges.
  • Warm cookies are fragile and will break easily, so patience at the cooling stage makes the difference between beautiful cookies and cookie crumbles.
03 -
  • Freeze unbaked cookie dough for up to three months, which means you can bake fresh cookies whenever you want without starting from scratch.
  • If your royal icing becomes too thick while decorating, add water literally one drop at a time instead of pouring—you can fix thin icing but thick icing means starting over.
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