Whisk together thoroughly the flour, baking powder and salt.

Beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy. Then add sugar and continue to beat until very fluffy.

Add the egg, milk and vanilla to the butter mixture until well combined

Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended and smooth.

For this tutorial, I divided the dough in half and rolled one into a log and placed in the freezer to cook another day then rolled and cut the other half. But normally when I make this recipe, I divide the dough into 3’s. Place each third between 2 large sheets of wax or parchment paper. Roll out to a scant ¼ inch thick, checking the underside of the dough and smoothing any creases.

Keeping the paper in place, layer the rolled dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate until cold and slightly firm, 15 to 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375'F.

Working with 1 portion at a time (leave the others refrigerated), gently peel away and replace I sheet of the paper. (This will make it easier to lift the cookies from the paper later).

Peel away and discard the second sheet.

Normally I would cut out the cookies using 2-inch or 3-inch cutters but for this particular tutorial I used a 1.75" wide flower cutter.

With a spatula, transfer them to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inches apart.

Roll the dough scraps and continue cutting out cookies until all the dough is used; briefly refrigerate the dough if it becomes too soft to handle.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, just until the cookies are lightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges, 10 to 13 minutes; rotate the sheet halfway through baking for even browning.

Remove the sheet to a rack and let stand until the cookies firm slightly. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

Once cool, enjoy the cookies as is or ice as desired.