Easy Christmas Sugar Cookies!

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet but I already have a hangering for Christmas cookies. When I was little (and actually still today), one of my favorite Christmas traditions wtih my family was making and decorating Christmas cookies. My mom always made sugar cookie dough and us kids would line up at the table/bar in the kitchen and she would cut out all types of shapes (reindeer, wreaths, snowmen, Christmas trees, etc.) and we would all decorate them. She let us run wild. We stood by the philosophy that the more decorations the better (even though sometimes the taste of the cookie was sacrificed with the abundance of sugar sprinkles and red hots). Today, I decided to give the sugar cookie thing a try. I wanted to make sure I could do it when needed. It was really simple. I usually think the typical sugar cookie is lacking a little flavor so I varied a couple of recipes and made a vanilla almond sugar cookie. They were delicious!

Here are some of the results. I realize that the decorations are totally amateur but I had limited decorating tools. Just a couple of tubes of Betty Crocker Cookie Icing I found at the store. Pretty neat stuff if you don't want to make your own icing.

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies - Christmas Cookies!

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

3 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in flour slowly, a little at a time until mixture becomes dough.

2. Cover and chill dough for about 30 minutes or until dough is easy to handle.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutter to cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with sugar, sprinkles, etc.

4. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. Cool.

5. Decorate with icing.

Enjoy!