Sugar Cookies (great for cut-outs) & Icing

Some sweet ladies from my church hosted a Back to School day last year. The younger siblings of school-aged kids made sugar cookies to give their brothers and sisters when they got home from their first day of school. I loved the recipe and have used it ever since!
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg. Mix until well blended.
2. Sift together salt, baking powder, and flour. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Add the vanilla.
3. Dough will form a ball when pressed together. Chill in the refrigerator until slightly firm.
4. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. (I use powdered sugar to keep my surfaces dusted. It makes the dough less gummy than using flour.) Cut in your desired shapes and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. (We prefer about 8 minutes so our cookies stay soft.)
Icing
1 c. powdered sugar
2 t. milk
2 t. light corn syrup
1/4 t. almond extract
paste food coloring

Mix sugar & milk until smooth. Beat in syrup & extract. This with additional milk until desired consistency. (Thin it little by little and only after mixing VERY well.)
I've also made icing using meringue powder and powdered sugar and water. The meringue powder icing dries extremely hard. The above recipe isn't quite as hard and uses items most people already have on hand.