Holiday Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3-4 tbsp. low-fat milk, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 28 tsp. colored sugar or  sugar pearls (9 tbsp. + 1 tsp.)

Makes 56 Servings (1 cookie per serving)

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, 1 tablespoon milk, and vanilla; beat well. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to egg mixture, a little at a time, just until blended.
3. Divide dough into 4 equal balls and shape each into a disk; wrap each with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper (or use 4 baking sheets and cook all at once).
5. Unwrap 1 disk of dough (keep remaining dough refrigerated). Between 2 sheets of lightly floured wax paper, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness; remove top wax paper. Cut into cookies with 2-inch round cookie cutter; freeze raw cookies on wax paper until firm. Place cookies on baking sheets and bake until edges of cookies turn light golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool; repeat with remaining dough, rerolling scraps to yield 56 cookies.
6. Meanwhile, make icing; in a small bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and enough of the remaining 2-3 tablespoons milk to make icing smooth and of drizzling consistency. Decorate each cookie as desired with 1/2 teaspoon icing and 1/2 teaspoon colored sugar or sugar pearls. Let icing set before serving.

WW POINTS VALUE: 3 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the Weight Watchers Magazine. You can have your cookies and eat them too during any holiday. It's hard to find a sugar cookie recipe because the end result doesn't turn out the way you had hoped. These sugar cookies are soft, moist and flavorful. They're even more delicious without the colored sugar or sugar pearls. Make these cookies for any holiday and they will be devoured.