Alton Brown's Iced Christmas Sugar Cookies

Mix dry ingredients

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar

Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.

Add wet ingredients

Add egg and milk and beat to combine.

Combine with flour

Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Chill dough

Divide the dough in half, flatten each to a disc, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Roll out dough

Sprinkle a work surface with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill.

Cut shapes

Cut into desired shape and place at least 1-inch apart on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake cookies

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time.

Cool cookies

Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve cookies as is or ice as desired.