In a big mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, milk, vanilla and egg until well blended. I use my KitchenAid mixer with paddle attachment to save time, but you can also use a hand mixer or good old mixing spoon and elbow grease!

Add flour, baking powder and salt, again mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour for easier handling. The dough will be super soft.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1/3 dough at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. Keep the rest of the dough refrigerated. Cut the rolled dough with floured cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. (At this point, if you don't want to decorate your cookies afterwards, you can just sprinkle the cookies with sugar before baking).

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-9 minutes. My oven runs hot, so it's usually only 5 minutes for me. You're looking for the edges only to get a bit of golden light brown color. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely before decorating with icing.