Sugar Cookies

I've been looking for the perfect sugar cookie recipe, and seem to keep striking out. So I decided to take a recipe and modify it to turn it into what I've been looking for (hopefully). And as it turns out, these are the epitome of the sugar cookie you would pay good money for at your favorite bakery. Yum!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 3 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. 
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour (I refrigerated the dough overnight).
3. Place a few tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, about 1 inch apart. Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, or flatten with a potato masher as I did. Sprinkle with additional sugar.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are set. Do not let them brown! If you use a baking stone, the cookies will finish baking after removing the stone from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.