This year, I went SUPER EASY with the sugar cookies, and focused on the icing. I picked up Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix in a bag, I'm sure you saw them everywhere, and probably picked one up yourself! Directions are easy to follow. I made the dough one night, then formed it into a ball, and wrapped it in plastic wrap, flattened it to form a square shape, and put it in the fridge to access later. When I did this, I was so happy, as it got firm, and easy to roll out after a few minutes at room temperature.
I got lucky and had been to Michael's, where a 20 pack of cookies cutters was on clearance shelf for $4, I didn't have a single cookie cutter, and gobbled the deal up!
Once I formed and baked the cookies (for me I didn't sprinkle with sugar or anything), I let them cool, and created a variety of colored icing. Here are the ingredients to the icing:
2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
That is it! You'll get a glossy icing. As the icing will be smooth and runny-ish, if adding color, seriously, a little goes a LONG way! Over coloring might give your icing a new texture, as well as unwanted color. I had fun with the colors.
Here is a pic of the cookies I decorated. I did use store bought in a can (say it isn't so!!) frosting, it looked fun, and wanted to do creative things. As a frosting it worked well, getting the decorating tips to work, for me, was a challenge, and I was getting tired at the end of the day, so I quickly wrapped up the decorating, since it was just me.
I look forward to making the sugar cookies from scratch next year and further perfecting my decorating techniques.