Simply Splendid Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 0.5 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1.5 cups confectioners' sugar 
• 1 large eggs 
• 0.5 teaspoon salt fine
• 1.3 cup unbleached flour all-purpose
• 0.5 pound butter unsalted at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1.3 cups flour whole-wheat white such as king arthur

Equipment

• bowl
• baking sheet
• baking paper
• oven
• hand mixer
• cookie cutter
• spatula

Directions

1. Arrange the racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Get out 2 large cookie sheets and line with parchment paper.
2. Place some white sugar sprinkles in a small bowl.
3. Prepare dough: Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the vanilla, baking soda and salt and beat at medium speed until incorporated.
5. Add the egg and beat until incorporated.
6. Add the flours and mix at low speed until blended, scraping down the bowl once or twice.
7. Scoop up enough dough to form into a 1-inch ball, rolling between the palms until smooth.
8. Roll the dough ball in sugar sprinkles and then place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat, arranging a dozen coated dough balls evenly spaced on each sheet and then, using a drinking glass, press on dough balls to flatten to about 1/4 inch thick.
9. Bake cookies about 12 minutes, switching and rotating the pans half way through, until cookies are golden and somewhat firm to the touch.
10. Transfer cookies with a metal spatula to racks and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
11. You can use chocolate "jimmies" or other sprinkles for coating the cookies before baking. The sugar comes in colors, but we prefer not to use artificial coloring. Coarse sugar sprinkles are available in specialty stores; we like them better than the kind you can typically get at the supermarket. Indiantree.com offers sugar sprinkles that are dyed with vegetable juices—the pink, orange and yellow are particularly pretty.Sugar Cookie
12. Cut-outs: Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper and chill for at least 1 hour. Lightly flour a work surface and then roll out one pieces of dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
13. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters.
14. Transfer cookies with a metal spatula to baking sheets and chill for 10 minutes.
15. Bake cookies about 15 minutes, let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to racks.
16. calories, 5 grams fat, 3 grams saturated, 10 grams carbohydrates, .5 grams fiber, 1 gram protein
17. Real Food for Healthy Kids
18. Reprinted with permission from Real Food for Healthy Kids by Tanya Wenman Steel and Tracey Seaman, (C) 2008 William Morrow Cookbooks/An imprint of Harper
19. Collins Publishers