brown family sugar cookies

I got this recipe from my mom and the original recipe was called green family sugar cookies (I have no idea why), but since I have now made my own "tweaks" to the recipe, I now call them the brown family sugar cookies. I am not usually a fan of sugar cookies, but this recipe is really good.  since I didn't get the decorating gene with my cooking gene, I usually just make these as the stained glass cookies and bake the small cookies cut out and without icing or decorating them.  you can decorate them with sprinkles and colored sugar or ice them.

1 ¼ cup sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon lemon or almond extract (I use the sweet dough flavoring from king aurthur)
1 egg
3 cups flour, plus more for rolling out cookies
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
dash of nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt

1. put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
2. add buttermilk, vanilla, lemon or almond extract and egg; mix until combined.
3. sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. slowly add into the mixer and mix on low speed until smooth.
4. chill dough at least 2 hrs.
5. preheat oven to 350. line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6. roll dough to a ¼” thick and cut out (use plenty of flour). for stained glass cookies, follow instructions below. otherwise, decorate with colored sugar or sprinkles and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown. cool on cookie sheet for 15 minutes and then cool on cooling rack.

stained glass cookies

jolly ranchers (or other clear hard candy)
freezer bags
meat mallet
small and large cookie cutters

1. unwrap the jolly ranchers in the color that you want to use and place them in a freezer bag.  crush the jolly ranchers with the meat mallet.
   
2. once you have rolled out the dough, cut with the large cookie cutters and move to the prepared cookie sheet.
3. using one of the small cookie cutters, cut out the middle of the cookie.  fill the cookie center with a generous amount of the crushed jolly ranchers.
4. the cutouts from the small cookie cutters can be re-rolled or baked as small cookies.
5. bake cookies in the preheated 350 oven for 10 to 12 minutes for the large cookies and 8 to 10 minutes for the smaller cookies or until golden brown.