Anne's Basic Sugar Cookies

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Servings: 16
Yield: 16 servings

Description

Anne Byrn's basic sugar cookie recipe is easily adaptable to your tastes, making it perfect for holiday parties or bake sales.

Ingredients

1 (15 1/4 ounce) package yellow cake mix
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg white
sugar sprinkles for decorating

Directions

1 Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2 Combine cake mix, butter, egg, vanilla, and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture comes together into a sticky ball, 30 to 45 seconds.
3 Roll the dough to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured board with a lightly floured rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to stamp out shapes and place them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. (You can reroll the dough scraps once and cut out more cookies.) Brush the cookies with egg white and decorate with sprinkles.
4 Place one pan in the oven at a time. Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes for smaller cookies and 10 to 12 minutes for larger. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove to wire racks with a metal spatula to cool completely, about 20 minutes.