Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

 Falalala, la la la laaaaaaa! Ok, I promise I'm done singing. This week I made some fantastically delicious cutout cookies for work. Cutout cookies seem to be a staple this time of year at every Christmas and holiday party. This recipe will ensure that you have the best cookies at that party! This recipe does require that the dough rests in the fridge for a few hours, so make the dough ahead of time, go run some errands, and bake them later.
For this recipe you will need:

Don't forget to let the dough rest!

1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 C butter
1 egg
 1 1/2 t vanilla
 2 1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cream of tartar


Cream together the butter and sugar. Doing this creates a tender, flaky cookie. Add in the egg and vanilla, stir until just combined. Once the egg is added, try not to over-stir the dough, you want tender flaky cookies,  not tough ones. Add the baking soda and cream of tartar, followed by the flour. Mix in the flour in installments, otherwise you'll get flour all over yourself and your kitchen (and anyone/thing in a ten foot radius. Trust me, not a fun clean up). After the flour is completely mixed in, reach in with your hands (take off your jewelry first!) and roll the dough into a ball. At this point, the dough is still probably a little crumbly, it's ok. The couple hours in the fridge will fix that. Like in the photo above, tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.

Make sure they have plenty of room!

Now that your errands are done and your dough has had its nap, go ahead and get out your rolling pin, flour, cookie cutters, spatula, and cookie sheets. Preheat the oven to 375. Put some flour down on the counter (you'll want a good amount of room to work), flour the rolling pin, and roll the dough out to about 1/4-1/2 thick. Personal preference really, some people like crispier cookies, some don't. If you want crispy, go with the thinner cookie, if not, go thicker. If you're using metal cookie cutters, you may want to dip it in flour first so the dough doesn't stick when you lift up. But hey, if the dough does rip, just smoosh it back together and start over! Try to use every inch of space on the dough round when cutting out the cookies. This lessens the amount of dough that needs to be re-worked, which in time will make for a tough cookie (good on the streets, not in the kitchen). Once all of the dough that has been rolled out has a cookie cut out, pull away the dough from the cookies before you lift them with a spatula. Oh yeah, you'll probably want to flour the spatula too. Once you have enough cookies to go in the oven leave them in for about 6-8 minutes. These cookies don't brown much, so any brown on the surface makes for a crunchy cookie. Once out of the oven, let them cool completely.

Add some sprinkles for a little something extra!

For frosting, I like to use a royal icing. It's easy to draw designs and will dry firm, perfect for storing!

Royal Icing:
4 C powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 C water (to desired consistency)
2 T meringue powder (found in the cake decorating section of your grocery store)

Combine the sugar and meringue powder carefully (again with the huge mess if you're not careful!) Slowly add the water. It only takes a little water to go from too thick to a runny mess. At this point add food coloring, or divide into multiple bowls for several colors. For the trees above, I used kelly green color, and multi colored sprinkles.

As my boss said, "These cookies are NUMMY!" (Apparently that's a word now) These cookies are guaranteed to be a hit, but watch out, everyone will want your 'secret recipe'!