Ingredients:
1 pound unsalted butter, softened
4 cups white granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons almond extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and almond extract together with a mixer. Add baking powder and blend well. Gradually incorporate flour, one cup at a time, into the sugar mixture until the dough forms large pea-sized pieces or until you’ve added 7 cups of flour. Press dough into a ball with your hands. If the dough sticks to your fingers, continue adding remaining flour, one tablespoon at a time until the ball is soft and is no longer sticky. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and divide into four equal portions. Sprinkle pastry board or a clean countertop with flour and roll dough to a ¼-inch thickness.
Cut cookie shapes with desired cookie cutters and place on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Once you have formed a complete layer, add another sheet of parchment paper and continue layering your cookies. When you’ve reached 5 layers, start a new cookie sheet.
Freeze unbaked cookies for a minimum of 30 minutes, but preferably overnight for more intricate designs. Freezing helps the cookies retain their shape.
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Bake cookies in a single layer on parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving at least a ½ inch of space between cookies. Baking times will vary from 10 to 14 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. Cookies should be a pale golden color when ready. Do not allow them to brown.
Note:
This recipe can be halved easily. You can change the flavor of your cookies by changing your extract flavor. If using peppermint extract, use slightly less. Yielded number of cookies will vary depending on the size and thickness of your cookies.