My 5 Baking Tips For Making Better Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Holiday baking is a long time tradition in my family. We get together every year to make treats and goodies for friends, neighbors and for our holiday parties. On Sunday I'll be going to my mom's house to get my "Betty Crocker" on.

Here are some tips and tricks that I've picked up over the years for better holiday baking!

1. We love making sugar cookies in my house and decorating them. My mom always makes the dough ahead of time and puts it in the freezer. She freezes the dough about a week before our get together. Then, she lets it thaw in the fridge the night before we bake the cookies. This way, you don't have to spend so much time making the dough. You just get to do the fun part which is cutting out the sugar cookie shapes. It saves a lot of time when you're baking tons of treats all day.

2. When I was new to baking and cooking, I didn't really understand the concept of pre-heating the oven. I didn't think that it mattered. But, I was wrong--IT MATTERS! Make sure that you're following your directions and pre-heating your oven before you do your baking. You might ruin your cookies if you skip this important step.

3. I always put a piece of nonstick parchment paper on the bottom of my cookie sheet to make sure that the cookies don't stick. It helps protect your cookie sheet and it also makes for an easier clean up!

4. Next, we decorate our sugar cookies. When you're a kid it's about being fun and creative. When you're an adult it's still about being fun--but, now it's also about making them look appealing. If you suck at frosting your cookies like I do, try putting a very thin layer of frosting over your cookie before you start decorating. My grandma taught me this. She's a cake decorator and she calls it the crumb layer. That way, your cookies will turn out beautiful.

5. Before I start layering my cookie with a thick layer of frosting, I put my frosting in a plastic zip lock bag. I cut a small piece off of the corner of the bag so that it looks like a cake decorating bag. I outline my cookie with the frosting and work my way to the middle. This way, the edges of the cookie look very slick and defined.