3 Simple Secrets To Make The Tastiest New Year’s Sugar Cookies

Instructions

THE COOKIE DOUGH

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, cream cheese and sugar using an electric hand mixer on high speed for about 5 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and the sugar is just about dissolved. Make sure to scrape the excess off of the side of the bowl that way the mixture will be evenly beat.

Add the egg, egg yolks, vanilla and almond extracts then mix everything using the electric hand mixer again. As before, scrape down the side of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated evenly.

Add the kosher salt right on top of the mix.

Using a sifter, sift the flour, baking powder and cream of tartar into the bowl. Fold into the mixture then use the electric hand mixer at low speed to incorporate everything until you see the dough come together. Don't over mix, you just want the flour to be incorporated into the mixture.

Pour the mixture into plastic wrap and shape the dough into a disc then wrap it up all over with the plastic wrap.

Place the wrapped dough into the refrigerator and chill for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 3 to 4 days max.

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper to prepare for baking.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes so that the dough can soften a little and be ready to be rolled. The dough should still be cool, don't let it warm completely to room temperature.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it until you get an even 1/4-inch thick all around.

Take your cookie cutters and dip them into flour so they don't stick to the dough when you press down. Then place them one by one onto the rolled dough and push them down until you feel they've reached the surface.

Carefully remove the cut dough shapes onto the parchment paper on your baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator and let it chill for at least 20 minutes to make sure the shape of the cookies hold.

Gather the excess dough left over from cutting, roll it into a ball and place it back in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes so you can reuse it later to make more cookie shapes.

Take your baking sheet out of the refrigerator, place it in the oven and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges start to barely turn golden brown.

Take the cookies out of the oven and place them on a wire cooling rack until completely cool, especially if you plan on decorating them with icing. Otherwise go ahead and enjoy!

THE ROYAL ICING

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl.

Add the salt right on top.

Add the vanilla extract and the egg whites onto one side of the powder in the bowl, not in the middle.

Using a hand whisk, start mixing the contents in the side of the bowl where you poured the vanilla extract and egg whites. Start mixing a little bit of the contents then add more and more until you're finally mixing all of it, doing it like this will help prevent lumps from forming in the icing mix.

Divide the icing into smaller bowls depending on the number of colors you plan on making.

Add the gel food coloring into the bowls and mix until the all of the icing is the desired color.

Put the icing into a piping bag and pipe onto your cookies.

If you want to dip the cookies in the icing or flood icing onto the cookies, add a little water into the icing for a thinner consistency then go ahead and dip or flood your cookies.

Decorate your cookies as you wish and enjoy!