obligatory christmas-themed post

I did not intend to post three dessert recipes in a row, but I think that I ought to write about Christmas cookies before the actual holiday passes.

These cookies were a bit tricky for me to make since I didn’t have a hand mixer at the time (though I received a very nice one for Christmas). But to get by, I basically mixed the dough up with my hands.

And as for the decorating (which is definitely the best part), I had a lot of help from Willa, Milena, and Ella. They are probably the sweetest, brightest, cutest, most entertaining little girls ever. I am quite fond of them, in case you can't tell. It was a bit messy (like when Milena dropped an entire container of sprinkles on the floor or when the icing-covered butter knives fell repeatedly on to the carpet below), but still lots of fun.

Christmas Sugar Cookies (adapted from Simply Recipes)

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks!) butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Add other ingredients. Blend until thoroughly mixed. Now I was a bit confused by these directions in the original recipe. And that is all it said. Usually when you make cookies, you cream the butter, eggs, and sugar together and then slowly beat in the dry ingredients but that would probably make a dough that was too soft to roll out. Anyway, I had trouble just “cutting in” the butter so I used my (washed) hands to kind of knead the dough and to ensure the butter was properly distributed.

Roll dough into a ball. Wrap in wax paper and chill for several hours. It should be very cold when you go to roll it out.

Flatten out a portion of the dough on a large, smooth surface (such as a cutting board or cleaned table top). Mix together 2 parts flour with 1 part sugar to sprinkle on the board to prevent sticking. The sugar will ensure that the cookies don’t lose their sweetness. Using a floured rolling pin, roll cookies out until approximately ¼ inch thick. Cut out with assorted Christmas-themed cutters and place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for probably 6-8 minutes but remove from oven as soon as they start to turn color. Let cool on a cooling rack.

Icing

1/3 cup softened butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine ingredients and beat with hand mixer until smooth (I did this step at the girls’ house and luckily, their kitchen was properly equipped. Though I have made icing in my food processor before). Separate out into smaller bowls and add food coloring to obtain different colors.

Decorate cookies!

My talented decorators.

Okay, so these are some that I decorated. The girls found some black icing using for writing on baked goods and went to town with it on their cookies. Some of them looked less than appetizing, to say the least.