Whether you're baking the perfect Christmas cookies or just looking for a baked treat that lends itself to creative decorations, baking the perfect batch of homemade sugar cookies is a quick and easy process. This guide provides step-by-step instructions to ensure that your sugar cookies come out golden and delicious!

• Sugar cookies are easy to make, freeze well and will survive a cross-country journey should you decide to ship a batch through the mail. Their plain surfaces also make them an extremely popular choice for Christmas and other holiday-inspired decoration.

• Your basic sugar cookie isn't particularly complex to prepare. The ingredients and equipment required to make approximately 2 dozen cookies are as follows:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Set this bowl aside.
2. In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
3. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract, and brandy or milk together in a separate bowl.
4. Add the egg mixture to the mixed butter and sugar. Beat until blended.
5. Slowly add in the flour mixture.
   • - If the mixture becomes too thick for your mixer, add the remaining flour by hand. Knead the dough on a flat surface until all of the flour is incorporated.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the cookie sheets.
3. Roll out the chilled dough to approximately 1/8-1/4 inch thick on a flat surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar, or a one-third sugar/two-thirds flour mixture.
4. Cut out the dough using your cookie cutters.
   • - To keep the cutters from sticking to the dough, spray lightly with cooking spray.
5. Place the cookies on greased cookie sheets.
6. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. If your oven heats unevenly, you may wish to rotate the sheets after 5 minutes.
7. The cookies are ready when the edges start to brown, and the cookie is golden; remove the cookies from the oven.
8. Cool on a rack for approximately 2 hours before decorating or freezing.

• If you like, you can decorate your cookies before putting them in the oven. Try one of these pre-baking decorating techniques:

1. Sprinkle sugar on your cookies. Use coarse colored sugar for holiday themes.
2. Place nuts, colored sprinkles or dragees on your cookies.
3. Mix beaten egg yolks with food coloring, and paint your cookies before they go in the oven.

Although they make a tasty treat even when unadorned, the pale, smooth surface of a classic sugar cookie makes it the ideal canvas for fanciful decorations. And best of all, since the you'll be using simple decorations like icing, sprinkles and candy, decorating your cookies is something the whole family can get in on!

• • NOTE: Because decorated sugar cookies are particularly popular during Christmas, make sure to read up on Mahalo's in-depth guide about How to Decorate Christmas Cookies, too!

• Because of its texture, ease of coloring and quick preparation time, royal icing is a traditional favorite for decorating your sugar cookies. For an in-depth guide on how to make this tasty topping, make sure to visit Mahalo's page on How to Make Royal Icing!

• Some good ideas for decorating with royal icing include:

1. A thicker mixture of the icing to create outlines or piping around your cookie.
2. Icing can be thinned by adding water.
3. Using a thinner version to coat your entire cookie with a layer of icing that will harden into crunchy finish.
4. Thin icing is also good for filling in an outlined shape or laying a base coat over the entire cookie.