A Step-by-Step Guide to Adorable Cut-Outs
These Easter sugar cookie cutouts are the perfect way to add a touch of sweetness and fun to your holiday celebrations. With their soft texture, vibrant colors, and endless decorating possibilities, these cookies will surely delight kids and adults alike!
pro tips
- mise en place: weigh and prepare your ingredients and supplies before starting. The purpose is to streamline the cooking process, ensuring efficiency and reducing stress. Minimize the risk of errors and allow for better focus on technique and timing.
- equipment varies: ovens vary, purchase an oven thermometer to ensure the oven is at the correct temperature. Each oven will have different hot spots, and some use convection to heat. If your oven has convection, I recommend lowering the temperature by 25°. Place your baking pans in the center of the oven on the middle rack for even baking.
- read the recipe: be sure to read the entire recipe before starting. This way, you can see if any of your ingredients need to be at room temperature or cold or if any of the ingredients need to be processed before being added to the other ingredients.
- room temperature ingredients: using room temperature butter and eggs will allow the ingredients to come together smoothly and prevent curdling.
- rolling out dough: roll out the dough before you chill it in the fridge. It’s much easier to manipulate room-temperature dough than cold dough. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to keep your work space clean and eliminate the need for added flour, which can make the cookies tough.
equipment and supplies
- stand mixer with paddle attachment
- bowls, various sizes
- rubber spatula
- flat spatula
- cookie cutters
- rolling pin
- parchment paper
- sprinkles/colored sugar
- food coloring
- piping bags
- sheet pans
sugar cookie instructions
step one: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the butter and sugar on speed 2 for 3 minutes or until smooth. Scrape the bowl and mix again if needed. Scrape the bowl.
step two: Add the egg and mix on speed 1 for 1-2 minutes until the egg is completely mixed with the butter and sugar. Scrape the bowl and mix again for another 30 seconds on low speed. We don’t want to incorporate too much air or the cookies will spread while baking. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix for 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl.
step three: Add all the flour at once. Mix on speed 1 just until the flour has disappeared. Scrape the bowl and mix again to ensure all the flour is incorporated. Do not over mix the dough, this will cause tough cookies. And remember, you still need to roll out the dough, which also forms gluten and can toughen the dough.
step four: Place a piece of parchment paper on your work surface and add the cookie dough on top. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top and flatten out the dough with your hand, careful not to wrinkle the paper. Wrinkled paper=wrinkled dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/4″ to 1/2″ thickness. Gently place the dough onto a sheet pan and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to overnight.
Chilling the dough allows the flour to be completely absorbed and for flavors to develop. This also make it easier to cut out shapes with cookie cutters and helps to prevent spreading while baking.
step five: Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge and place it on your workspace. Slowly remove the top parchment paper, then place it back on, but do not press down. Carefully flip the dough over and slowly remove the parchment paper. This helps stop the bottom of the dough from sticking to the paper.
Using your favorite cookie cutters, cut out your shapes. Dip the cookie cutters in flour before stamping the dough to stop it from sticking. Keep your cuts close to each other to make as many cookies as possible out of the first round of dough. Gently place each cut-out cookie onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before baking.
With the remaining scraps of dough, combine them just enough to form a rough ball and roll out between two sheets of parchment paper. If the dough ball is small, you can use one sheet of parchment and fold it in half. If the dough is cold enough, continue cutting out cookies.
step six: Once chilled, bake the cookies at 350°F for about 9 minutes. Watch the cookies near the end of the baking time and pull them out once the edges get a nice golden brown. These cookies should not get any darker or they will get hard and crunchy.
If the cookies are a little darker than you wanted, remove them immediately from the baking sheet and place onto a cooling rack to prevent further cooking.
step seven: Once the cookies are cool, you can begin the decorating process. This part is all up to you and your imagination. I will be posting a royal icing recipe soon, so stay tuned. Decorating with royal icing is a learning experience, so please don’t get discouraged if the cookies don’t turn out exactly as you expect them to. They will still taste amazing!
Allow the royal icing to dry completely before stacking the cookies. This can take a few hours. You can test the icing by gently pressing your finger into it. If it is not dry enough, your finger will make an indent.
Sugar Cookie Cutouts
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer
Ingredients
- 113 g butter room temperature
- 200 g sugar
- 1 each egg room temperature
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract optional
- ½ tsp salt kosher
- 360 g AP flour
Instructions
- Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. It takes about 3 minutes on speed 2. Scrape the bowl.
- Add the egg and beat for 1 minute on speed one. Scrape the bowl and add the extracts. Beat the mixture for another minute on speed one. Scrape the bowl.
- Add the flour and salt and mix on speed one until the flour disappears. Do not over-mix.
- Lay the dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to ¼ inch thickness or ½ inch thickness, depending on your preference. Place the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour or overnight.
- Once the dough is chilled, carefully remove the top parchment paper and use cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Gently place the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before baking.
- While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350℉. Bake the cookies for about 9-12 minutes. The cookies should look dry on top and only slightly golden around the edges.
- Place the cookies on a cooling rack until they are cool enough to decorate.
Notes
storage tips
- raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Raw dough can be frozen for up to one month.
- Baked cookies, decorated or not, should be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days before they start to get stale.
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