Seeking a Good Roll Out Sugar Cookie Recipe.

Here is a great one I use all the time...

Ingredients

Makes 2 dozen

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 2 tablespoons B., or milk
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients, and mix until incorporated. With mixer running, add egg, B. (or milk), and vanilla; mix until incorporated.
2. Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
5. Decorate with Royal Icing, optional.

My mother's recipe. They bake VERY FAST, so watch the oven. But, many people tell me they are the best they've had. Also including her Ginger Snaps recipe, people ask me to bake them around Christmas so they can have some.

Sugar Cakes (Cookies)

4 eggs, beaten light. Add 2 cups sugar, flavoring, one cup butter, two teaspoons of cream of tartar, one of baking soda, flour to make a soft dough (about 4 cups. Dough should pull away from the bowl but not be as stiff as you will need - too much flour is worse than not enough. It will pick up flour from the pastry cloth as you roll it out.) Chill for a couple of hours or overnight.

Flavoring: 1 ½ - 2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

Roll out on a floured pastry cloth (important) with a pastry sock on the rolling pin (very important.) Bake at 450 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

Ginger Snaps

1 c. Crisco
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten light
1 c. Green Label Molasses (Brer Rabbit is the brand I use, but the important thing is that it be Green Label molasses rather than Gold Label or Blackstrap)

Sift together:
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground ginger (yes, that's a tablespoon)
Flour enough to roll (about 4 1/2 c. Dough should pull away from the bowl but not be as stiff as you will need - too much flour is worse than not enough. It will pick up flour from the pastry cloth as you roll it out.)

Chill several hours or overnight.
Roll out on floured pastry cloth with a floured sock on the rolling pin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until they are no longer puffed up and have totally flattened out, but before they darken. They will be soft as they come off the cookie sheet, but will crisp up during cooling.

Hope the party goes well!

I use www.allrecipes.com when I'm trying to find a good recipe. I've had good luck so far. There are a ton of recipes and sometimes is takes a bit to sort through them but better too many than not enough.

I have used the Betty Crocker bags of sugar cookie mix. They tell you to add flour for cut out shapes. They have always worked great! You can make them as thin or thick as you want to - I make them thick so they stay soft. And I use the buttercream recipe on the confectionary sugar box to make the icing for decorating.