sugar cookies

I've never made a great sugar cookie, but it's been years since I tried. New project: find a recipe and method that works.

Tonight I made the dough for Alton Brown's recipe:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk

and I added 2 tsp vanilla.
I creamed the butter by itself first, then added the sugar. I never really get my sugar totally dissolved in my butter so it's not gritty, and this time was no exception. My arm just gets too tired. Someday with a better-sized bowl, or a stand mixer, I'll try that. (Or maybe a food processor. Hmm.) By the time I was done adding all of the flour, the dough was in small clumps and didn't/wouldn't really cohere. I'm not sure if that was because my mixer bowl is gigantic, but I think it's happened before. At any rate - you're supposed to chill the dough for two hours, so I divided it in half, scooped up half and molded it into a lump with my hands (and I think the heat and pressure from my hands helped it cohere quite a bit) and wrapped it in plastic wrap, and then added a little more milk to the second half, mixed it more, and wrapped it up. We'll see which (if any) comes out better. Next time, (if I'm not happy with these results) I'll try a recipe that uses two eggs.

Verdict: I am giving up on making sugar cookies because I cannot roll them out without them sticking to the surface or breaking for love or money.