Bakery Style Sugar Cookies (a no chill sugar cookie dough!)

It's such a delight to sink your teeth into one of these soft, fluffy, tender sugar cookies.  Kids and adults alike love these cute, bakery style sugar cookies.  One of my favorite things about these cookies is that you don't have to wait an hour for the dough to chill, because who can do that, I want cookies now! =)  I made these yesterday for my daughters birthday party so the kids could decorate them.  I doubled the batch so each person could decorate 5 cookies, then I purchased a lot of random candies to go on top (rainbow colored nerds, gummi bears, skittles, candy hearts, cinnamon hearts, lots of different sprinkles) then I bought a few sets of icing tubes, of course one with glitter =), and then I made several colors of frosting.  The kids LOVED it!  They sat there for probably an hour decorating their cookies, so if you are looking for a fun activity for kids at a party then I'd recommend this simply activity.  
I love these sugar cookies because they are soft but they don't taste like sour cream like some of the soft sugar cookies do.  And they are so simple, no rolling out dough or anything.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
You may also like to try my recipe for Sugar Cookie Squares (another super simple recipe) or Sugar Cookie Rice Kripsie Treats, they're a fun new twist on Rice Krispie Treats.

Bakery Style Sugar Cookies

Yields about 2 dozen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

2 Tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 recipe vanilla frosting, recipe follows

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy about 3-4 minutes. Stir in egg and egg white.  Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until blended.  Slowly add dry mixture and stir until well combine.  Form dough into balls (I measured out 1 heaping tablespoon for each).  Place dough balls on greased cookie sheet then even flatten dough balls with your hand, to about 1/4" inch. Bake 9-10  minutes (9 1/2 was perfect for me).  Cool completely, then frost.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbsp cream or half and half

1 tsp vanilla

Several drop food coloring (optional)

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whip together butter and powdered sugar and cream or half and half until fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Add in food optional food coloring and mix until well blended.