Before we moved to Alaska and became dairy goat owners, I was a professional cake decorator. More specifically, I was a competition professional cake decorator. I competed in sugar art shows in Texas and Oklahoma, and my work was published in magazines. This cookie recipe is the only recipe I used when I competed in the confections category, and it is also the recipe I used when customers ordered decorated cookies for events. These roll-out cookies are so yummy, the fact that they’re fast and easy to make is icing on the… well, it’s icing on the cookie!

One of the things I like most about this recipe (who am I kidding? There’s nothing I don’t like about this recipe!) is that the cookie dough doesn’t spread in the oven. No more amorphous cookie blobs coming out of the oven! Hooray!

You can decorate these cookies with any type of icing or glaze that you like. If you’d like to use the same recipe for royal icing that I use, you can find that recipe by clicking here.

Roll-Out Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and almond extract. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 inches wide and 1/8″ thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet (line with parchment for easier removal of cookies) 6 – 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.