Unfussy Sugar Cookies

Combine flour, salt (if butter is unsalted), baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl or the work bowl of your machine, whisking to combine well. Cut butter into small cubes and add to dry ingredients.

Run the machine, scraping down as needed, until the butter fully disappears into the flour mixture, which will look sandy and clump easily between your fingertips.

Add the egg and vanilla and run the machine until it blends into an even cookie dough, scraping down a few times to make sure it mixes evenly.

Divide dough in half and (edited to add) if it’s in loose chunks, gently knead it together into one mass on a sheet of parchment paper.

Place a second sheet of parchment paper over the dough and roll each dough half between 2 large pieces of parchment paper into your desired thickness — I like these the most in the 3/16- to 1/4-inch range.

Slide each parchment-and-cookie-dough slab onto the back of a baking sheet, thin tray, or thin cutting board and place in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, until solid.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Carefully remove top sheet of parchment paper from first cookie dough slab and place the side that touched the dough down on a large baking sheet.

Cut cookies into your desired shape. Here I’m using a fluted pastry wheel to cut the cookies into 1.5-inch squares.

Peel each cookie off the bottom sheet of parchment and arrange on baking sheet with 2 inches between them.

Repeat with remaining slab of cookie dough.

Bake cookies until they are a light golden brown at the edges, rotating trays once while baking to ensure even baking, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Let cookies set for one minute on the tray after removing from the oven then transfer to a cooling rack to let the cookies cool completely.

Whisk your egg white (or substitute reconstituted from egg white or meringue powder) in a large bowl until loose and frothy.

Add salt and 1 cup of powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Add flavorings, if desired, and last 1/4 cup of sugar — it’s pretty stiff at this point, which is how you want it.

To dip your cookies, scrape half of icing into wide bowl. Add water, 1/4 teaspoon at a time (a little goes a long way) to thin the frosting until it can thinly but mostly opaquely coat a dipped cookie.

Skim the top of each cookie in the frosting, using a knife, spatula, or your finger to catch any drips before you flip it over.

Arrange back on parchment-lined baking sheet to set completely. Once again, I tend to rush this outside.

Scrape the remaining, thicker half of your icing into a sandwich or freezer bag, cut the tiniest nip off the corner of the bag, and pipe designs of your choice on top.

If you’re adding sprinkles, do so every 3 to 4 cookies or the icing will begin set and the sprinkles won’t adhere.

Let them set until completely solid, anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how thick the piping is.