By Dash

Use this simple sugar cookie dough and a Basic Decorating Icing (see recipe below) as the base for all of your holiday cookie creativity. After you've made the dough, chill and select any of the cookie recipes linked below to create your very own custom cookies.

BASIC COOKIE DOUGH

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

Instructions:

1.

In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.

2.

Add flour, baking soda and salt to butter mixture and beat on medium until smooth. If the dough is very sticky, beat in a little more flour.

3.

Form dough into 2 balls, wrap each in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

4.

Choose to make one of these 9 treats:

Christmas Tree Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies. Serving size: 1 undecorated cookie. Nutrition information per serving: 110 cal, 14g carbs, 1g protein, 3.5g fat, 20mg chol, 70mg sodium, 0g fiber.

Use this Basic Decorating Icing to add faces, accents, and color to ordinary cut-out cookies. Add food coloring and flavoring if desired.

BASIC DECORATING ICING

Ingredients:

1 (16-oz) box confectioners’ sugar

3 Tbsp meringue powder

1/3 cup warm water

Instructions:

1.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat all ingredients together for about 5 minutes.

2.

If mixture seems too thick to spread, thin with a teaspoon or two of warm water.

Makes about 2 cups. Serving size: 1 tablespoon. Nutrition information per serving: 50 cal, 13g carbs, 0g protein, 0g fat, 0mg chol, 0mg sodium, 0g fiber

View more recipes from Dash in MLive's Dash recipes section.

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