Christmas Cookies

I was kind of disappointed that some plans I had with friends fell through, so to cheer me up, Joe suggested that we bake Christmas cookies with the girls last night. My spirits were uplifted and I couldn't wait. I immediately remembered a recipe that my friend, Katie, posted on her blog, claiming to be the BEST sugar cookies ever, so I thought we would try them out. I only needed a few ingredients, so I headed of to the store, and to my surprise my friend Katie was there. I thought that was a fun coincidence. Joe's mom came over for a visit and brought some Christmas surprises for the girls and some decorations for our house. We ate dinner and visited with her for awhile until she needed to leave, then it was baking time. The girls, especially Joleigh, were so excited and couldn't wait to get started. I don't do a ton of baking, mostly already made cookie dough or things from a box, so this was a very special occasion and one that required a lot of help from the girls. They got up on their stools and helped pour and mix up all the ingredients, roll out the dough, cut out their shapes, then added the sprinkles to the cookies I frosted after they baked. They had a blast and really loved eating their creations. I love making holiday memories and look forward to baking cookies again next year with my little helpers.

By the way, the cookies were amazing!!! They were light and very fluffy and the frosting was delicious. Here is the recipe that I stole from Katie (I don;t think she minds, because she stole it from one of her friends too.) Hope you enjoy if you try them!

THE BEST fluffy, soft, thick Sugar Cookies
1 ½ c. sugar
1 c. butter
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. milk
4 ½ c. flour
1 ¼ t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
(yes, that's right...FOUR teaspoons!)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar, butter and egg. Mix dry ingredients, then add them to the wet mixture. Add milk and vanilla. Roll out the dough pretty thick - about half an inch. The key is to roll out the dough with lots of flour (at the beginning, I usually even have to flour my rolling pin between each roll…the dough can get pretty gooey - expect for your hands to be coated with flour), cut with your shapes using cookie cutters, lay the cookies about an inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (they grow and rise in the oven) and bake 8-10 minutes. Store in a tightly sealed container.

These freeze well!

Frosting

(double the following recipe for a thicker frosting layer on the cookies)
2 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. butter, softened
½ t. vanilla
1-2 T. milk