Preheat oven to 350°F. (180°C)

Cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer for a full 2 minutes.

Scrape sides and add in vanilla and egg. Mix until combined.

Add flour and baking powder to the bowl. Mix slowly at first gradually getting faster until the dough comes together. The texture should be like Playdoh. Add a little flour or water if needed to get it to a soft, pliable consistency.

Use a rolling pin and roll the dough onto a floured surface until ¼-½ inch thick, depending on the size of your cookie cutter. (The cookies will not rise while baking, they will not get thinner while baking. Roll out to your desired FINISHED thickness.)

Use cookie cutters and cut out desired shapes. Transfer the cookies to an un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 7-11 minutes or until the centers are puffy and no longer glossy. Pull the cookies out of the oven BEFORE they start turning brown. If they turn brown, the cookie will be dry and 'crackery' instead of soft and chewy.

Frost with your favorite Sugar Cookie Frosting and Enjoy!

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Frosting

Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before decorating.

Combine powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a medium-sized bowl and stir until combined. If frosting is too thick, add more milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is thick but pipeable. If you accidentally add too much milk, add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached.

If coloring the frosting, divide into bowls and color as desired at this point.

Transfer frosting to a piping bag with a piping tip (I used Wilton 5), or place in a Ziploc bag and snip a small piece of the corner off (not as neat, but this will still work, just take care that the frosting isn’t so thick that it breaks open the seam of the bag when you are squeezing).

Pipe frosting on cookies and decorate with decorative candies, if desired.

Allow frosting to harden before enjoying, stacking, or storing (this took several hours for me and may vary for you depending on the consistency of your frosting).