• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
• 1 teaspoon almond flavoring
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In mixer, combine butter and sugar until fluffy. Add, one by one, egg, cream, and flavorings; mix well after each. Gradually add 2 ½ cups of the flour and the baking powder. Roll out dough on floured surface and cut out shapes. Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes, but do not brown. Cool completely on wire racks before glazing.

To make glaze:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• ¼ teaspoon flavoring (almond, vanilla, lemon, rum or a mix)

You’ll be happier if you put the cookies on a wire rack with parchment paper or plastic wrap underneath it – that way, drips won’t matter and cleanup = scrunching up the paper/wrap and tossing it in the trash. But if you have a large batch of cookies to decorate, parchment paper is the way to go.

Blend all ingredients in a dish or bowl wide enough to dip the tops of the cookies in, and add food coloring if desired. When the cookies are completely cool, hold them by the edges and dip the tops into the glaze. You also can pour or brush the glaze on the cookies. The glaze will take about 15 minutes to dry, so you have a small window to add decorations that need to stick on the top, like red hots, nonpareils or dragées.

from Penny McConnell