Perfect Frosted Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup all vegetable shortening, unflavored, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 recipe Vanilla Frosting, recipe follows
• 1/3 cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 – 3 Tbsp half-and-half
• Food coloring, optional

Directions

1. Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Whisk the mixture briefly to even it out, then set it aside.
2. Using an electric stand mixer, beat the butter, shortening and sugar on medium speed until the mixture is very pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Stop and scrape down the bowl as needed.
3. Mix in the egg until incorporated. Add the egg white with the vanilla and almond extracts, and mix again until smooth. With the mixer running, add the dry mixture gradually, mixing only until the dough comes together.
4. Move the dough into an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 hours. When there are 10 minutes left in the chill time, set the oven to 375.
5. Scoop out a scant 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie and roll it into a ball. Set the ball on a lightly floured surface, dust the top lightly with flour, and press it with a flat, smooth object, such as the storage container lid, until it is evenly flattened to 1/2" thick. The cookie should be roughly 2 2/3" – 2 3/4 " around.
6. Place the flattened dough on a Silpat or a buttered cookie sheet, then repeat the shaping and flattening with the remaining dough. You’ll need 2 cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 9 – 11 minutes. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
8. Once the cookies are completely cool, frost them with Vanilla Frosting. The frosting starts to set quickly, so if you are using sprinkles, add them right after frosting each cookie instead of frosting the whole batch first.