– 1 cup unsalted butter
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
– 1 large egg
– 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
– 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
– ½ teaspoon salt
In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar until smooth, light in color and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and mix again until the egg is incorporated but don’t over whip.
Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix again until just combined. Scrape the sides with a spatula so no dry flour is left. The cookie should pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Divide the dough into 4 portions, and roll out each using a rolling pin into ¼ inch thickness. Cut out using a cookie cutter and transfer to the cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-9 minutes rotating at 6 minutes for even browning. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely before icing the cookies.
Divide icing into small bowls and add food coloring. Add water as needed to get the royal icing to the proper consistency. To ice and flood cookies you'll need a 15-second consistency icing for outlining and details and an 8-10 second consistency for filling.
Add the icing to piping bags fitted with couplers and #2 round tips, or cut a small hole in the tip of the piping bag. Outline and flood the cookies first to create a solid background. Decorate with details after the first layer has mostly dried.