Sugar cookies

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, 1 Tbsp milk and vanilla extract; beat well. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to egg mixture, a little at a time, just until blended.
3. Divide dough into 4 equal balls and shape each into a disk; wrap each with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper (or use 4 pans and cook all at once if you are able).
5. Unwrap 1 disk of dough (keep remaining dough refrigerated). Between 2 sheets of lightly floured wax paper, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness; remove top sheet wax paper. Cut into cookies with 2-inch round cookie cutter; freeze raw cookies on wax paper until firm. Place cookies on baking sheets and bake until edges of cookies turn light golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool; repeat with remaining dough, rerolling scraps to yield 56 cookies.
6. Meanwhile, make icing: in a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and enough of remaining 2-3 Tbsp milk until smooth and of drizzling consistency. Decorate each cookie as desired with ½ tsp icing and ½ tsp colored sugar, powdered sugar or sugar pearls. Let icing set before serving.