I really really really thought I answered this a long time ago. >_>
Unfortunately, my current recipe uses a vegan egg substitute and therefore isn't really a great example of sugar cookies. They're just as good as any other sugar cookie I've ever had, but that makes it a little hard.
Vegan Sugar Cookies from
The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Ingredients:
1
3/
4 (220g) unbleached all purpose flour
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2 teaspoon baking powder
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2 (112g) nondairy butter, at room temperature
3/
4 granulated, unbleached sugar
1
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2 Ener-G Egg Replacer (equivalent of 1 egg)
2 tablespoons (30ml) water (this is part of the egg replacer)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg replacer, water, and vanilla extract and beat for another minute. Finally, add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.
Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove one-half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of
1/
4 inch (6mm). Keep flipping the dough over as you roll, making sure the dough doesn't stick to the counter. If the dough gets too warm (from handling), making it hard for the cut-out the cookies to keep their shape, simply refrigerate it again for about 10 minutes.
Cut out the cookies using cookie cutters and place on the prepared baking sheets. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough. This prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they begin to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Decorate!
Vegan Royal IcingIngredients:
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2 teaspoons egg replacer (equivalent of one egg)
2 tablespoons (30ml) water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
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4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
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2 cups (150g) confectioner's sugar, sifted
Food coloring
Directions:
In a medium-size bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg replacer, water, lemon juice, and almond extract. Add the sifted confectioner's sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. Add food coloring if you're making a batch of just one color. To make multiple colors, separate the icing into bowls, add a color to each bowl and combine thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap when not using.
End of recipes! (Thank god, Dx)
Decorating and icing cookies takes a lot of practice (I suck). One trick for making a solid field of color on the cookie is to vary the amount of confectioner's sugar. Make some icing with more and some with less for more and less runny icing. Use the less runny icing to outline the cookie and then fill in with the runnier stuff. This should help to make a smooth, fully frosted cookie.
Anne links me to many blogs, such as
chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/, that have good tips and the writers are enviable with their insane cookie making talent.
allrecipes.com/ has a plethora of recipes that are fantastic, just pay attention to the rating and comments others have left. They have a great looking recipe for
sugar cookies and a few
icing recipes you can look at.
Long post, can't think, let me know if I missed anything. <3