Vigorously cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla until the eggs lighten in color, and all of the ingredients become uniformly combined.

In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt, and then beat it into the liquid ingredients a half cup at a time until it forms a smooth batter. If your dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour, but do so bit by bit, and add only enough to make the dough easier to handle without sticking. Too much flour will dull the flavor.

Separate the dough into 4 separate balls to make rolling out the cookies a bit easier. While you work with one ball of dough, wrap the others in plastic and place them in the fridge lest they soften too much and become unmanageable.

Plop a ball of dough onto a sheet of parchment paper, place another sheet of parchment paper on top, and roll it out until it flattens to ¼-inch thick, more or less. Cut out the cookies and bake them 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees until a bit browned at the edges but still soft and pale at the center. Transfer them from the oven to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before decorating. Continue working in batches until you've rolled, cut, baked and cooled every bit of dough.

Once cool, decorate the cookies with a simple frosting or glaze. Top with currants, raisins or organic sprinkles (I used these.)