Anyone got a good sugar cookie recipe?

I'm looking for a good sugar cookie recipe-mine always taste like cardboard.  Hopster?  Anyone?   

I've always used Martha Stewart's recipe


Sugar Cookies
 
Makes about 16 large cookies or thirty 2 1/2-inch cookies
 
 
4  cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2  teaspoon salt
1  teaspoon baking powder
1  cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2  cups sugar
2   large eggs
2  teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons
1/4  cup fine sanding sugar, for decorating (optional)
 
  1.  In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
 
  2.  Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
 
  3.  Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.
 
  4.  Preheat oven to 325°. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator, and decorate with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks. May be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.


It's a good thing
 

Martha is always good. Good quality vanilla really does help. As does a tsp of lemon juice or even orange zest (as Martha suggests though I do that WITH the vanilla).

From www.epicurious.com - always a good site as the recipes are rated:

OLD-FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES
There are untold numbers of sugar cookie recipes circulating throughout the Midwest. As students of this sweet know, lard makes for a particularly toothsome cookie, with a texture at once crisp and sandy. For a cookie that is crisp but also chewy, vegetable shortening is best.


 
1/2 cup lard or vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar plus additional for coating the cookies
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

 
In a large bowl stir together the lard or shortening, the butter, 1 cup of the sugar, the egg, and the vanilla. Into the bowl sift together the flour, the baking soda, and the salt and stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Chill the dough, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll rounded tablespoons of the dough into balls, roll the balls in the additional sugar, coating them completely, and arrange them 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in the sugar (the edges will crack slightly) and bake the cookies in batches in the middle of the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, or until they are pale golden. Transfer the cookies to racks and let them cool. The cookies keep in an airtight container for 1 week.

Makes about 32 cookies.

Sorry i'm late - but yes, I use Martha and it never fails! We made 4 dozen yesterday with lovely results. However, the above recipe is missing the key ingredient! Brandy.

2 tablespoons of brandy is absolutely undeletable! It gives it the loveliest little flavour and i've tried ALL the sugar cookie recipes out there!

Ice it with a cup of icing sugar, an egg white and some food colouring thrown in and you've got a work of art... I usually do red and green and plain white and then put little squiggles of colour on top of an already iced cookie. ie red "stocking shaped" cookie with green squiggles or green "tree shaped" cookie with red dots on it. Makes it look absolutely pro and dead easy...

Oh, i let the kids have a go with the icing and sprinkles as well.... but they're under strict instructions that no fingers in icing bowls...I know how often these fingers go up the NOSE.