Cookies!

My daughter, Katherine, is away at college.  She's a freshman at OSU.  A few weeks ago I sent her brownies (from a box mix), but this weekend I decided to make our favorite sugar cookie recipe.



Cookies Katherine decorated



Above your see some beautifully decorated cookies, not by me, but by Katherine!  Since junior high school she would make and decorate cookies for her friends for all of the holidays!  She was very meticulous when it came to the decorating, and that is why, I rarely helped her, unless she was desperate!  I'm not so meticulous! 

I was going to show you a few pictures of the cookies I sent to Katherine, but I'm having trouble uploading them.  Anyways, I just wanted to show the difference between Katherine's beautiful art, and my not-so-beautiful art!  But the cookies still tasted good!

We've been using this recipe for years and it's really fail-proof, even for me (most times)!



Katherine made these for a Key Club meeting!



This recipe comes from the Mrs Fields Cookie Book.  I once lost this one and bought one that I thought was the same, but it did not have this recipe in it, thankfully, I found my original book!  Here it is:

Christmas Sugar Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
colored sugars/decorations

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  (that's the secret-lower heat-longer baking time)

In a medium bowl combine the flouer & salt with a wire whisk.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter & sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed.  Add the egg & vanilla, and beat untill well mixed.  Scrape down sides of bowl, then add the flour mixture. Blend on low speed until combined.  Do not overmix.

Gather dough into a ball.  Flatten the ball into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate 1 hour untill firm.

On a floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/4" thickness.  With cookie cutters, cut dough into desired shiapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Decorate with colored sugars or sprinkles.  (I make some this way, since my son, Mark, likes them without frosting, and some I leave plain to decorate with frosting).

Bake for 13-15 minutes (I find mine our done before this time), being careful not to brown.  Immediately transfer cookies with a spatula to a cool, flat surface.  I find that after I put the cookies on the plate, the bottoms "sweat", so after a minute or so, I transfer them to a dry plate, so they don't get soggy.

Try this one-I think you'll like it!

My simple frosting recipe will follow soon!

Happy Baking!

Jen