Simple Cut-Out Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

Because it's almost Halloween and the holiday season is coming up, I wanted to share a recipe that would work well with any holiday and/or occasion.  

These cookies are extremely soft, slightly sweet and very flavorful.  The cool thing about these cookies are that they can be made to fit any occasion and it really just depends on how you shape them.  I've made them for about every holiday that I can think of.  For example, Easter, St. Patricks Day, The Fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas to name a few.

The orange extract in the recipe could literally be replaced with any other type of extract flavoring.  I've tried lemon, peppermint, almond, strawberry but, my favorite is with the orange extract.
I also provided a recipe for royal icing because you can't have cut-out cookies without the royal icing!  

Cut-out Sugar Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3/4 (1 1/2 sticks) cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a stand-mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar on medium low until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs, vanilla extract, and orange extract and continue to cream.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and continue to mix until a soft dough is formed.
4. Transfer cookie dough onto plastic wrap.  Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight).
5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. On a lightly floured surface roll out the chilled cookie dough 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick .
7. Cut-out with cookie cutters, transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons meringue powder
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Food coloring

Directions:

1. In a small mixing bowl whisk together warm water, meringue powder, and cream of tartar.
2. Add in vanilla.
3. In a stand-mixer with a paddle attachment, mix meringue mixture with powdered sugar.  Continue to mix on medium-low until the icing is smooth with no lumps of powdered sugar.
4. Add in food coloring.