Salted Maple Cutout Cookies

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium, add egg yolk and drizzle in maple syrup. Mix until combined then turn it off.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sea salt. Add this to the butter mixture and mix just until combined, making sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to incorporate all dry ingredients. Gather the dough into a disk and put it onto a two-foot sheet of plastic wrap and wrap well. Place dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Remove about a quarter of the dough from the fridge and place on a floured surface. It’s important to keep the dough cold as long as possible, so working in small batches is best. Roll dough out to about 1/4″ thick and cut into desired shapes. Lift each cookie onto the lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1/2″ between cookies. Once the first sheet is full of cookies, place it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Chilling the uncooked cookies will help them retain their shape while baking. Gather scraps into a ball and return to the fridge. Remove another cold quarter of the dough and repeat the process with second cookie sheet.

Once the first cookie sheet has chilled, bake it on a center rack for about 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and carefully lift each cookie onto a cooling rack. Pour 1/4 cup of maple syrup into a small dish. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush each cookie with maple syrup (think kisses, not puddles). Once all of the cookies from the first sheet have been brushed, lightly sprinkle each cookie with the large grain sugar.

Continue this process of rolling out dough, cutting cookies, chilling cookies, baking cookies, brushing with maple syrup and sprinkling with sugar until all of the dough has been used up.

Cookies can be served warm (obviously) or can be stored in an airtight container for several days.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.