Sugar Cookies

Unlike many things in the baking world, sugar cookies are meant to be foolproof. They don’t have much butter or leavening, so they’ll keep their shape when you roll out the dough and cut them. They’re sturdy enough to be handled and decorated, but soft and delicious enough to be a Christmastime dessert staple. But there are still ways to totally mess them up.
Lots of people bake their sugar cookies until they’re a nice golden-brown. DON’T DO THAT! They’ll be hard as rocks–and will get harder the longer you keep them around. Because they’ll harden naturally as they age, you want to bake them until they’re just set. Look for a sandy-blonde color with just a hint of gold.
If you roll the dough out even too thin, they’ll become fragile. Not good if you’re having a cookie-decorating party. But if you roll the dough out too thick, then they won’t cook through and become dense and, honestly, pretty gross. The ideal thickness to roll out your sugar cookie dough is about 1/4″–that way, they’ll be tough enough to be handled and decorated, but thin enough to stay a little crunchy.
Dragees are pretty, but they break your teeth! Also, I would add another bit of advice to the list: don't overdecorate (unless you are a pro). Keep it simple. Cookies with too much glop on them appeal to little kids, but usually not to most adults.