Prepare the Almond Sugar Cookie Dough:

1. In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and powdered sugar
2. Add the egg, almond extract and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until fully combined
3. Add the flour into the butter mixture and mix just until combined
4. On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and gently knead until it comes together
5. Shape the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap
6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the dough to rest

Bake the Almond Sugar Cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ⅛-¼ inch thick, cut the dough using a variety of size snowflake cookie cutters and place on a prepared baking sheet
3. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes (cookies will have very slight golden color only on the edges, you want the centers to be soft)
4. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely before icing

Prepare the Royal Icing

1. In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whisk together the powdered sugar, egg whites and vanilla extract until fully combined, creamy

*The icing should be thick enough to create a ribbon texture when you lift a spoon of icing from the bowl and then it should lay flat once it has settled back into the bowl
*You don’t want the icing to liquid or it will spread off of the cookie and not keep its shape

Decorate and Ice the Snowflake Almond Sugar Cookies

1. Diving the royal icing into 4 bowls and mix each bowl of royal icing with the food coloring of your choice
2. Fill pastry bags with each individual color of royal icing; set aside
3. Using a very fine round tip or cut the pastry bag to be a very fine point, outline the perimeter of all of the snowflake cookies and allow the icing outline to dry
4.  Once the outline is dry, cut the hole a little bit bigger (not much) or use slightly larger tip to fill in each snowflake with the same color as the outline (the outline should prevent the icing from flowing over the edge of the cookie)
5. Allow the icing base to dry, approximately 20-30 minutes before piping the snowflake detail on each cookie
6. Using the same color as the base of the cookie and a very fine tip on your pastry bag, pipe the snowflake detail on each cookie. You can be creative and make each snowflake the same or different
7. Allow the snowflake cookies to try before serving, stacking on a platter or packaging to gift