The Easiest Sugar Cookies Ever....But first some important news!

I hate to take the focus away from these wonderful cookies, but it's got to be done:  I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT!!!!  WOOHOO My smoker arrived yesterday!!!  I can't tell you all how excited I am to start using it.  I know it won't be possible until the weekend, so I must practice even MORE patience, but I figure it might take me that long to figure it all out anyway....and to figure out what will be the first piece of meat to go in there.  Wanna see it, wanna see it????  You know you want to:

Isn't it kick ass???  I have to send another HUGE thanks to Chris at Nibble Me This for hosting such a great giveaway... I hope you are prepared to have me ask you a ton of questions :)  And of course, thanks to Masterbuilt for allowing Chris to give such a great product away!!

Ok, Ok... NOW we can talk about cookies:

Sugar cookies were not my favorites growing up.  I mean when you had chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter cookies to choose from, sugar cookies were just not on the top of my list.  When I did have a sugar cookie, I was always disappointed.  They usually had a great buttery flavor, but they were also always on the dry side.  Blah!  Not what I want in a cookie.  The first time I actually made sugar cookies, I realized why I never made them before.  First, I did not have a stand mixer and mixing those cookies together tended to seem so much more difficult then any other cookie batter.  And then there was the process of rolling the dough out...and cutting it with cookie cutters...and then finally the cooking process.  And THEN...because they were so dry, you had to frost them.  I mean it was an all day thing for dry cookies.  Really not my style.  So when I saw this post on Andrea's site, I had to give these a shot.  Andrea claimed that these sugar cookies were moist and buttery and wonderfully easy....and she was spot on in that claim!  I was actually going to frost these, but alas, they really did not need it at all.  They were perfect as is.  Now, I'll admit, I rolled them in sugar before baking and that helped, but they were perfect nonetheless!

The Easiest Sugar Cookies Ever
Recipe courtesy of Andrea The Kitchen Witch
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup white sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup white sugar

Directions:
Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium speed.

Scrape down the sides and add the vanilla.  Mix until incorporated.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping sides of bowl and paddle after each addition.

Mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together in a bowl.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, scraping down the sides after each addition.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Scoop balls of dough and roll into sugar, coating all sides.  Place balls of dough on cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes or until just set.  You do not want these to brown, brown means they will not be soft and chewy in the middle.  Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then move to wire rack to finish cooling.  Enjoy!