Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.

Step 3

Add the egg and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.

Step 4

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Step 5

Add the flour to the butter mixture, 1 cupful at a time, until fully blended.

Step 6

Press the dough into a ball.

Step 7

Place the ball of dough onto a piece of parchment paper, then using a rolling pin roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness.

Step 8

Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut out circle shapes and place them onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Step 9

Then use your cookie stamp to stamp in shapes.  I find the best way to do this is to gently, but firmly, press the stamp into the dough…lightly wiggling to make sure the stamp leaves an impression.

Step 10

Bake for 10 minutes.  I like to bake mine so that the edges of the cookies are barely lightly brown…if you bake them too long they will be more crunchy, and we like them soft and chewy.

Step 11

Let cool on a rack.

Step 12

After you’ve cut out a batch of cookies, gather up the leftover dough into a ball, and roll it out to use again.  Repeat until you have no dough left.