German Cut-Out Cookies +Recipe

My friend Alice has been posting her recipes on dA for some time, and I've decided it was time to share some of my special recipes too! (And yes, Lady Alice says it's just fine to copy her clever idea! ) Credit for the beautiful photo and processing goes to my dear hubby .

I admit I used to be a bit secretive about my holiday recipes, but I've since decided that's silly. I've heard too many stories of stubborn cooks taking their recipes to the grave with them, and that's pointless. Good food is for sharing, after all! So I'm going to share with you all, my dA family.

Ah, the roll-out, cut-out sugar cookie. It's a Christmas classic! The problem I've found, though, is a lot of them taste... well, tasteless, unless covered in frosting and candy bits. I'm not a fan of a lot of extra stuff on my cookies. A little colored sugar is all I want. That's why I always make the same ones my mom made. These taste great all on their own. What makes them "German" cut-outs? Beats me. All I know is, that's what it says on the recipe card my mom wrote out for me. And I'm not about to go against what Mom says!

German Cut-out Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (If you use salted butter you don't need to add any additional salt)
Colored sugar for decorating

Mix the first five ingredients at medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Gradually add in the flour (and salt, if needed) and mix until the dough forms. Pack the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic or put in a plastic bag and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one-third of the dough at a time, leaving the rest in the fridge (if it's too sticky to roll, chill it longer; if it's too stiff to roll, it got too cold - leave it out on the counter to warm up for a little while). Roll to 1/8" to 1/4" thick, depending on how thick you like your cookies. Cut out cookies and place on parchment lined (or lightly greased) cookie sheets; sprinkle with colored sugar (leave them plain if you want to frost them - but trust me, you don't need to frost these!). Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are just starting to turn golden brown around the edges around the edges (bake a couple minutes less if you like softer cookies, a couple minutes more if you prefer them crisp). Remove to either cooling racks or spread out newspapers/paper sacks to cool. Makes at least 4 dozen, depending on the size of your cutters.