Easter Sugar Cookies

I use the Williams-Sonoma Sugar Cookies recipe, it is very simple and the biscuits keep their shape very well; also... they are delicious! I make my own icing, or sugar paste; all I did was to roll it really thin, abut 2 mm maximum, then I used the cookie cutters to cut the shapes. I "glued" the icing onto the biscuits with some agave syrup, I guess runny honey would do just as well.  Then, My Daughter and I adopted a mixed technique in the decoration stage...

or you can make life easier for yourself and not use any icing at all but some melted chocolate

390 g all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

185g unsalted butter at room temperature

250g sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Over a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, slowly add the sugar and a  beat for 2 minutes, stopping the mixture occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until all of the flour has been absorbed and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 equal balls, Shape each into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 3/16 to 1/4 inch (4.5 to 6mm).

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees C. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

Dip cookie cutters into flour just before using and cut out shapes. Place on the baking sheet. Gather up the scraps, reroll them and cut out additional cookies. Refrigerate the cookies until firm 20 to 30 minutes.

Bake the cookies until golden brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes (however, my cookies in the photo took 18 minutes). If baking more than one sheet at a time, switch the sheets between the racks and rotate them 180 degrees halfway through baking.

Transfer the parchment sheets with cookies onto wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies directly onto the racks and let cool completely. Decorate better than Patti did. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.  

I made about 40 Easter cookies, which I wrapped individually in small transparent food bags and then inserted in small cardboard vases with a bit of paper grass. My Daughter will bring them to school on the last day before the Easter Holidays. Happy Easter everyone!