Perfect Frosted Sugar Cookies

I think it's safe to say I have a slight sugar cookie obsession. If you've been following my blog you've likely noticed by now. But really, who doesn't love frosted sugar cookies? I mean how can you not love them? The only people that don't are liars, I'm just kidding everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion. But those of you that don't like them, well lets just say we probably don't have much in common =).
I know I've already posted a sugar cookie recipe, well that's old news. Those are good, but these are better. These are so soft, so fluffy, so tender. Basically they melt in your mouth dreamy. 
So, you may be asking, what is that makes these special? To answer that, it's a combination of things. The texture is amazing thanks to the cake flour and cornstarch. Don't substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour or your cookie will end up heavy and dense (compared to what you get with the cake flour, besides you'd have to adjust the portions anyway because cake flour is lighter). I know cake flour is more expensive than all-purpose flour but sometimes its worth it, in this case it's definitely worth it. The combination of butter and vegetable shortening also helps the texture, especially when it's whipped to fluffy perfection. I got the inspiration to use egg plus egg white along with the almond extract from white cake. This is one cookie that is meant to be a bit cake-y, it gives it that amazing, pillow-y as clouds bite. 
If you like the Lofthouse style cookies from the store, trust me you're going to want to try these. I think these far outdo those. Those almost taste like plastic to me, good texture but weird taste. I even like these more than my old favorite from the local bakery. These are my new favorite! Enjoy and share!

Frosted Sugar Cookies
Yields about 1 dozen (11 large and 1 regular size to be exact, recipe can easily be doubled too)

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

Directions:
Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, then whisk it just a few times, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, on medium speed, whip together butter, shortening and sugar until very pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scrapping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in egg and mix until combine, then add egg white, vanilla and almond extract and mix until combine. With mixer running, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combine. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 during the last 10 minutes of refrigeration. 
Scoop dough out an even 1/4 cup at a time and roll into a ball. Place dough ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle top lightly with flour, then using something flat and smooth (such as the storage container lid), press and evenly flatten dough to 1/2" thick (so you should have about a 2 2/3" - 2 3/4 " circular cookie). Transfer flattened dough to a Silpat or buttered cookie sheet and repeat process with remaining dough (you'll have to use 2 cookie sheets). Bake in preheated oven 9 - 11 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely then frost with Vanilla Frosting (note that frosting begins to set quickly so if you are adding sprinkles, sprinkle each cookie immediately after frosting it, don't frost the whole batch of cookies then try to sprinkle them because the sprinkles wont stick).

Vanilla Frosting

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:
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip until frosting is smooth and fluffy. Mix in food coloring if desired (note: I finally figured out how to get a good pink with your average grocery store food coloring, I put like 8-10 drops red and the faintest amount of blue - be careful if you do this though, it's no where near a full drop. Basically you'd want to touch it to your clean finger and then swipe it in. Random tip but thought I'd share, I never like the hot pink hue I used to get. The tiny bit of blue just tones and cools it down a bit). It's also fun to color coordinate and frost and sprinkle these cookie according to the nearest holiday. 

Recipe Source: Cooking Classy