Brian is one of my co-workers and friends, and his wife Elizabeth is a really great baker and cook. She made these sugar cookies for an open house we had at work, and they were so cute and delicious! The cookies had a great texture, and the icing was just right…not too heavy, not too light. I asked Brian if Elizabeth would want to share her recipe on my blog, and I’m so glad she did! Here’s the recipe if you want to try making them. They’re a great sugar cookie to make at Christmas or any other holiday…or just whenever you’re craving a good sugar cookie! She found the recipes for the cookies and icing over at Allrecipes.com.  Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing your source for these yummy recipes!

THE BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES (from Allrecipes; makes 5 dozen)

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour, or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before adding icing.

SUGAR COOKIE ICING (from Allrecipes; this recipe frosts 1 dozen cookies, so you’ll need to multiply this by 5 for 5 dozen cookies)

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• assorted food coloring
• confectioners’ sugar for decorating (or your favorite sprinkles)

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip completely cooled cookies in icing, or paint them with a brush.

Here are some photos Brian took of Elizabeth’s cookie-making process…

The cookies look great even without any frosting…

Here are some cookies that have just been dipped in the icing and are being dusted with some confectioners’ sugar…

Sprinkle the confectioners’ sugar on as light or heavy as you want…here’s how they look when the icing has set a little more…

The stockings just get partially dusted with the sugar…

And when you’re done…a nice big batch of iced cookies…as cute or cuter as you could find in a bakery!

If you’d like to see other projects Brian and his family have been up to, you’ll have to check out Brian’s blog. He’s made some really fun and creative family movies…click here to see one of my favorites!

Sharing at Cookie Plan Monday.