Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup softened butter

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 egg (room temperature)

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp almond extract

• 3 cups flour

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cream together butter and sugar with a hand or stand mixer for a minute. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and almond.

3. Sift dry ingredients together and mix in.

4. Roll the dough out between two pices of plastic wrap with a rolling pin with a quarter-inch stopper. Place on a non-stick cookie sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes before cutting shapes. To ensure that the cookies hold their shapes while baking, refrigerate between rolling, cutting shapes, and re-shaping.

5. Bake for 12 minutes or until the outer edges are just caramelized. Cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before decorating.

6. Icing: whisk royal icing mix and water together until you reach the desired consistency. Use a thicker icing for piping and thinner for flooding cookies (background icing).

TIPS

I used purple malva petals and lavender buds to decorate; along with a touch of pink champagne gold dust. This recipe makes roughly 24 two-inch cookies.