the best sugar cookies

In 2007, right before the Holidays, my Dad came home from work and was raving about the best sugar cookies that he had ever had. An articling student, Sarah Shody, had baked cookies for her fellow articling students at the firm and shared the extras with some of the lawyers - one of those lawyers being my Father. As well as sharing the cookies, Sarah shared the actual recipe with my Dad - who transcribed it onto his computer and printed it for the family recipe collection. Dad also printed a copy of the recipe for me that year and that printout sits among my cookbooks and is simply titled "Sarah's Sugar Cookies". I should also note that the recipe has remarks at the top - explaining how our family came to get this recipe.



This year, some girlfriends on the street invited me to take part in a cookie exchange, and when I was deciding what to make, "Sarah's Sugar Cookies" came to mind. Sugar cookies are a no fail cookie, but they also made me think of Dad, his sweet tooth, and how much he loved them. So these were the cookies I decided to make. I googled Sarah's name and found her at another firm, and she generously allowed me to share her recipe on the blog. So, here you go. The best sugar cookies you'll ever have. Thank you again to Sarah for sharing these with my Dad in 2007, and letting me share these with you today.


INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 Cup of white sugar
1 Package of cream cheese
1/2 cup of mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1 cup of soft butter
1 egg
2 1/4 cups of white flour

COOKIE INSTRUCTIONS
1. Mix sugar, cheeses, vanilla, butter, and egg together until blended
2. Add in flour and mix until blended to make the dough. Chill overnight (Best to wrap in wax paper)
3. Roll the dough with a rolling pin and use a cookie cutter to makes shapes. Use lots of flour as the dough is quite sticky
4. Bake on a non stick baking pan for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F.
5. Let Cookies cool for 30 minutes then decorate!

ROYAL ICING
[Lindsay's remarks] I don't pay much attention to icing recipes as a lot of the time it's you just determining the thickness you want. I go for a thicker consistency which allows kids to stick candy in the icing and it stays in one spot vs. dripping anywhere. My trick is to do royal icing with meringue powder. 

• 4 Cups Icing Sugar
• 3 TableSpoons of Meringue Powder
• Almond Extract (Or choose a different flavour if you'd like, like pepermint or vanilla - but I love Almond)
• Warm Water

Mix all together, add more icing sugar or water to determine the consistency you want. I use my Cruisinart food processor. Add a dash of colouring if you'd like. 

Above are the ones I made this morning and below are Oscar's cookies that he decorated... I love how kids PILE on the candy! Too cute.