Holiday Sugar Cookies

This is a classic sugar cookie recipe from the New York Times that I've “Super Bloomed”. It's super easy! You will need a stand mixer to mix the dough. Full disclosure: though I may be good at making cookies, I’m terrible at decorating them! But, are they really supposed to be perfect? Or is it about just having fun with your quarantine family and bringing a little holiday cheer? Ugly holiday cookies are better than pretty ones! At least that's what I'm telling myself...

Ingredients

Dry:

• 3 ½ cups (or if you have a scale: 610 grams) Super Bloom All Purpose Flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt 

Wet:

• 3 sticks or 1 ½ cups (340 grams) of vegan butter at room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups sugar (250 grams)
• ½ cup sparkling water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Mix your dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Whip the butter and sugar together in the mixer until its pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure it all gets mixed evenly.
3. Add the sparkling water and vanilla and whip to combine.
4. Then, add your dry ingredients and whip to combine.
5. Scoop out the dough onto some plastic wrap and refrigerate it until its cold (at least 2 hours).
6. Heat oven to 325 and using a rolling pin and a little bit of all purpose flour to roll the cookies out to about ¼ inch thickness. You can use cookie cutters, the top of a ball jar, or you can cut out shapes (like a diamond shape) with a knife. Place the cookies on the baking sheet and refrigerate it for like 10 minutes before baking.
7. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, the cookies will just barely be getting browned on the bottom when they are done. Make sure to cool completely before decorating! We used Betty Crocker writing gel, but use whatever you would like!