Make Cookie Cutter Cookies

Everybody enjoys making and decorating cookies with cookie cutters. Few people realize that baking such cookies is almost as easy as eating them.

Ingredients

Gather the ingredients.
Combine flour and salt in medium bowl and set it aside.
Beat sugar and butter in large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Or beat by hand with a wooden spoon in a bowl.
Beat in the egg, and vanilla extract.
Gradually add the flour mixture and beat at low speed until well blended.
Divide dough in half.
Wrap each ball of dough in plastic food wrap.
Refrigerate the dough for at least thirty minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Grease several cookie sheets.
Sprinkle flour on a bread board, or other flat, hard surface.
Take one of the balls of dough, and unwrap it.
Roll the dough out on the bread board using a rolling pin, or round non-porous object.
Cut the shapes out of the dough.
Place the cookies on the sheets.
Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown.
Repeat with the second ball of dough.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely.
Decorate the cookies.
Enjoy.

Wash your hands and tie back long hair before working in the kitchen. Nobody wants any unpleasant surprises.
Once you add the flour to the mix, quit using the electric mixer. You'll just break it. Use a wooden spoon [of decent size] and plenty of elbow grease-it works a lot better.
Dip the bottom portion of the cookie cutters in flour before you cut the dough with them. It will prevent the dough from sticking.
If it's your first time, don't use very elaborate cutters [i.e. snowflakes] Because the dough will stick to the cutters.
Roll the dough to a thickness of approximately 1/4 inches [it's a lot thicker than one would imagine]
Don't attempt to make your own frosting unless you are very good at it. It's not worth the effort.
Use unsalted butter. This is very, extremely important! The cookies will all be ruined if salted butter is used.
Use a fork rather than a spoon to mix the flour and the salt. The slots allow for better mixing than could be achieved with a spoon.
When beating the butter and sugar, either use an electric mixer [starting on low, and then progressing up to high speed] or use a fork to cream the butter and sugar together. [Creaming is essentially mashing the butter and sugar together with the fork].

Don't forget to refrigerate the dough. If you don't, it will be horribly sticky and stick to everything, including you.
Don't attempt to frost the cookies before they are cool. The frosting will melt and make your experience rather miserable.
Don't take the butter straight out of the fridge. If it isn't softened first [by letting it sit out for a little while] then it won't properly mix.
Don't frantically attempt to soften the butter by putting it in the microwave. That will just melt it, and melted butter isn't any good either.
Don't add too much salt to the dough. It will ruin the entire batch of cookies
Don't let the cookies bake too long! You don't want to wind up scraping blackened, charred cookies off of a ruined cookie sheet.
Don't use imitation vanilla extract. Sure, it's cheaper, but sometimes you get what you pay for.