Frosted Sugar Cookies

We aren't big on Valentine's Day around here, but we are big on cookies.

I used a classic Martha Stewart recipe, but opted for a soft powdered sugar frosting instead of royal icing.  Royal icing can be beautiful, but it can also be frustrating.

I started with the usual ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, egg and vanilla.  (There are two sticks of butter in this picture, but I only used one.)

And then I used the basic cookie dough technique. I creamed the room temperature butter and sugar in my mixture on medium speed until light and fluffy.  This is an action shot.

Then I added the egg and vanilla and mixed well.

And finally added in the dry ingredients and stirred until just mixed.

The dough is pretty crumbly, but sticks together when pressed.  

Finally, and this is an important step, I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and chilled in the fridge for at least one hour.

Once chilled, I rolled it out to about 1/8" thickness, and used my heart shaped cutter.  After baking at 350 for 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, they looked like this.

For the icing, I combined 2 cups of confectioner's sugar with 1/2 a teaspoon vanilla extract.  Then I added milk in 1 teaspoon increments, mixing well after each addition, until the desired frosting consistency.