Sweet and Simple Sugar Cookies

These cookies are really easy to make and the kind of simple treats that are so nice to just have in jars at home, to nibble on with tea or at night after dinner (better for the waistline than the delectable rolo cookies...)

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.
Add the flour mixture slowly.  (Be careful not to add too much at a time or the flour will go flying!)
Blend until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a piece of parchment paper.
Using your hands, knead the dough a few times.

Place the dough in a large plastic (ziplock type) bag (I just used plastic wrap) and refrigerate for about 2 hours.  If you want to speed up the chilling process, place the bag of dough in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Just don’t forget it in the freezer, or it will become too firm to work with (and then you’ll have to wait for it to thaw)

When it’s almost time to remove the dough from the refrigerator (or freezer), preheat the oven to 180 degrees (C)
When the dough has chilled and is firm, take out about half of the dough, leaving the rest in the refrigerator, until you're ready to work with it.

Flour the surface slightly and roll out your dough, then cut out shapes of your choice.

Place cookies on a baking tray covered with wax wrap and bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until they are just starting to get golden. They will continue to cook while in the tray so be sure to remove them after about a minute.

I opted to ice my cookies with a very basic royal icing. Mine was a bit thicker as opposed to the liquid royal icing. 

Royal Icing
To make royal icing beat two egg whites until fluffy. Add a teaspoon of vanilla essence and then slowly beat in 4 cups of icing sugar. I also added a few drops of colouring to give it a prettier colour...

And enjoy...

Recipe taken from here