I wonder if someone would be willing to share a very good decorating cookie recipe. Thanks!

This is a recipe from www.kitchencrafts.com that has been suggested by MANY cookie makers on this site. I personally LOVE it I have used both vanilla & lemon flavoring & both were great! Hope that helps.... Katie

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES
This recipe is GREAT when using complex cookie cutters. The dough holds its' shape and won't spread during baking. Make sure you let your oven preheat for at least 1/2 hour before baking these or any other cookies.

6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe
can make up to 8-dozen 3 cookies.
HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess -- Rather than wait for your cookie dough to
chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.
Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop
it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have
used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to
cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding
any additional flour to your cookies.

thanks!! will try it next week.

Is something crazy with my computer? When I go to that website (linked directly from your message), I get to a site with bunnies on it. There is no recipes or anything like that. Someone recommended the site to me and I went there and saw the bunnies and figured I misheard or mispelled or something so I was going to double check later. But you mentioned it so I went there again....What's up with that?

Kelly

actually I got the same thing... so no its not your pc

lol!!!

It's the wrong link. It should be www.kitchengifts.com

Give that one a shot.

What a coincidence! I just tried the recipe katiediva wrote out and it is wonderful! Will definately be using it again! It helped up wonderfully especially since this was my first time trying sugar cookies. Don't know why I haven't made them before.....Just thought I'd share

What was the dough like? I tried to make Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe yesterday and it was quite difficult to roll out, it kept breaking up. The cookies themselves appear to be on the tough side as well. I was very discouraged after making mine....

Can you tell I was half asleep when I typed my first response "it helped up" lol I meant "held up"

tripletmom

I thought the dough was nice to work with. When I rolled it out the edge would crack and that was the only thing that worried me maybe it was a little on the dry side but the cookies taste great and they didn't lose their shape. It makes such a big batch I just grabbed sections and rolled it out.

I just wanted to add that it is 100x easier to roll this dough out between 2 pieces of parchment paper. As the "tip" in the recipe states, it doesnt even have to be chilled & then after I roll it to the right thickness, I put the whole sheet in the freezer until it is chilled & then I cut out the shapes. It is so much easier & has saved me so much time in making cookies!! Oh and sorry about the wrong link.... glad someone figured it out!!

~Katiedeva

Does anyone have a secret for rolling out the cookies so that they are all the same thickness. I have trouble getting mine to be all the same thickness..
Liz

I will try to describe how I do mine to get the same thickness.... I use wooden dowels (thicker ones, probably about 1/4in) & place the cookie dough in between them & roll it out.... when it gets as thin as the dowels, the pin doesnt roll them any thinner.... I hope that makes sense... but they sell boards specifically for this purpose that have raised edges around that do the same thing.... it can be tricky to get the dowels to stay put (maybe you could find square ones somewhere?) but once you try it a few times it is much easier.... someone else might have a even easier way... there has GOT to be some!! Hope that helps....

~Katie

I read somewhere to stack rulers together to make a homemade thickness guide. I haven't tried it, but rulers are cheap. Tape 2 or 3 together to get the 1/4in thickness.

Rolling out dough evenly seems to be the only innate baking skill I have.

A friend went to Wal-Mart (any paint store would do) and got a bunch of paint stirring sticks and uses those stacked up. They're free, but you may have to make a couple trips to get enough You can also get free rulers at some hardware stores.

I actually bought the sticks they sell on www.countrykitchensa.com and they also sell rolling pin rings that you can use. I like the sticks, but I would like to try the rings before I recommend one over the other...

Kelly