Decorator's Dream Cookies

I liked the sugar cookies I made last week, but I decided to try a different recipe this time. I found that the dough I made with the Martha Stewart recipe wasn't as uniform as I'd like. That may be due to slight user error, but just in case it had more to do with the recipe, I thought I'd try another one. This one is from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. This recipe has its variations, but the following is what I did for this round.

What You Need
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten w/ 2 tbsp water
3.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Cream the butter, sugar, and corn syrup until light and fluffy.

2. Add in the extract and salt.

3. Add the egg and 2 tablespoons of water.

4. Add the flour and beat until smooth.



5. Divide the dough in half, wrap them up in plastic, and flatten each slightly. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

6. When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Take one piece of dough and roll it out as thin or thick as you like. I like my cookies on the thicker side, since I don't like crispy cookies.

8. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and transfer them to cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

9. Bake the cookies until they're slightly brown around the edges, around 12 minutes (less if they're thinner).

10. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for several minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

11. Repeat steps 7-10 with the remaining dough.

For the icing, I didn't make my own. I used Wilton's white cookie icing.