I've been making cookies my whole life, and guess I was doing it wrong.
I made the No Fail Sugar Cookies and used dowel rods to measure the thickness of my dough....Wow!!! What a difference a little dowel makes. I've been making my cookies too thin forever...For anyone thinking of making these cookies---They taste GREAT and were SUPER EASY to make!!
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2055-No-Fail-Sugar-Cookies.html
Don't you just love them! I have gotten so many raves from them. I agree the thickness is the key! 
I put a dowel rod under each side of my rolling pin and used them as a guide for how thick to roll out the dough....It came out just right....Does that make sense? I rolled my dough out under parchment (it worked fine for me) and when I turned the paper, I just moved the dowels so it was even thickness all around...
I have used just regular ol class buttercream to decorate them. Decorate, and then let them air dry under paper towels overnight. I have stacked them without a problem. Have also put them in cellophane bags too. taht reminds me, I need to upload the pics 
I use the dowel rods that come in the package at Michael's...They are probably a little less than a 1/4 inch thick.....I used the rolled chocolate cookie recipe from the kitchengifts.com website..I just finished baking those and they are really good too...I had to test them of course and it took 2...
Will decorate all tomorrow....School and work tonight....
Happy Baking!!
So what frosting is good to use on sugar cookies. I want something that will taste good, not like eating royal frosting. Any suggestions?
I'm not a royal icing fan so I use Toba Garrett's glace' icing recipe. You can find it online by putting Toba Garrett icing in the search box. I know www.baking911.com has it.
Very tasty stuff, stays glossy and firms nicely
kos
cindy6250 - I think coloring the glace icing is easier, it didn't take near the coloring to get blacks and reds like it did when I used the royal icing. I like it a lot. Someone mentioned on another cookie-decorating thread to use the bottles when using this icing since it's easier. (instead of decorator-bags)
Cindy 6250 - I guess I'm just not getting it. Can you explain the dowel trick one more time? I even got out my rolling pin and dowel rods and still couldn't figure it out . Thanks!
You can also buy rubber rings to fit on each end of your rolling pin. They come in different sizes and there are 4 sizes(I think) in a package.
I know that they have 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch b/c that is the ones I use the most. You can buy them at a cake supply store. I haven't seen them at Hobby Lobby. I paid about $8 for mine and they have been worth every penney.
Sherry
Pardon me for butting in, but I will try to help...
Have you ever seen a rolling pin used for fondant or things that need to be level? It looks like a regular rolling pin but on each end it has these rings so you can not go down further into the fondant/dough... this way it ensures that the fondant/dough is equal heights once it's rolled out...
Picture like when you use a sharp knife to cut cheese that has a handle on the on the end..as your cutting the cheese it won't cut all the way through because the handle part touches the counter before the blade would... (am I making sense)
instead of buying this rolling pin with rings lay down dowel rods along the dough as your rolling to prevent the rolling pin from going any further than the thickness of the dowels...
hope this helps...
I'm not Cindy, but I'll try to explain the dowel set-up.
Put two dowel rods (same thickness) on your work surface, as if you were making the uprights for a big letter "H" in front of you. Place them so the distance between them is less than the width of your rolling pin.
Put the cookie dough between the dowel rods, and as you roll the dough, eventually the rolling pin will hit the dowels and your dough will be an even thickness, the same as the size of the dowel rods.
hth!
Laura.
Sorry Laura and Sherry, we must have been typing at the same time...
Well "DUH" must be my middle name tonight!!!! I GET IT NOW!!! I don't know what I was thinking, but it wasn't the right thing! Thanks to all of you who responded!
Laura
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