Sugar Cookies for someone special

This was my first attempt at sugar cookies, and first attempt at decorating them too..and tasting them too. :-) I have learned how common they are in other parts of world, now that I have started baking so frequently. This was the second kind of cookie that I parceled to my friend, chosen again due to its crispiness and ability to last longer. The recipe was again from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my home to yours" and this time I faced more troubles than with Chocolate almond biscotti. But this time the fault was mine. I had halved the recipe and assumed that the small size eggs will be half of the "large sized eggs". The dough became unmanageable because of that. But thankfully it didn't impact the taste or texture. The only thing I had to do was to refrigerate for more than 2 hours, so that i could work with the dough.

I decorated the cookies with home-colored  sugar, which gives it a nice crunch. For next time, I am thinking of adding either spices or citrus zest to give them some additional flavour.

Here is the original recipe from the book.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Colored sugar/cinnamon sugar [optional]

  Preparation

1. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.
2. Working with  mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. 
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated — because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.
4. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic.Chill the dough for at least 2 hours. 
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
6. Working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
7. Cut the cookies with a cookie cutter and place them on the baking sheet 1 and 1/2 inch apart. If you feel butter s melting, chill it for some time.
8. Sprinkle colored sugar just before you place the cookies in oven.
9. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all.
10. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
11. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.