Sugar Cookies (Dec 16th)

We had a lot of sweet, memorable little moments throughout the month of December.

Robbie helped me ice and decorate sugar cookies... and he surprised me with his intense focus and long attention span for the project. Like any good 'helper', he ate his fair share of sprinkles and managed to jam 3 cookies in his mouth before I shut down the operation. :)

Such precision...

Every serious baker needs their own apron. I don't remember where I found this one, but it's been hanging in the pantry for months and you know it brought me great satisfaction to finally break it out!

Edible? Check.

I can hardly stand how old he looks in this picture. Where have the last 3 years gone?! And why does he look like he's 5 here?

I managed to convince his little body to lay down for a nap right after this last picture was taken, despite the massive amounts of sugar coursing through his veins, and finished decorating the rest of the batch.

And I can't end this post without including the recipe for these cookies. I tried them for the first time this year, and not only were they the best sugar cookie recipe I have tried, but the dough did not require refrigeration and the icing dries firm to the touch (thanks to corn syrup) so that you can stack the cookies until you're ready to put them out or eat them! Love how practical all of these details are. When you are a mom -who has the time!?

Sugar Cookies

1/3 cup cold butter

1/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds on high speed. Add in sugar, baking powder and a dash of salt. Beat until combined. Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing. Add in the flour 1/2 cup at a time, you may need to hand stir the remaining 1/2 cup. Lightly flour your rolling surface and place half your dough on top. Flip your dough a few times to get it nicely coated with flour. Flour your rolling pin and then roll out your dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch in thickness and cut your shapes. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or just until the cookies edge is firm and the bottom of the cookie is a very light golden brown. Cool on a rack and ice!!

Sugar Cookie Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 tsp corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla or almond!)

Add your powdered sugar to a medium sized bowl and to that bowl add your milk and your corn syrup. Mix well. Then add your extract and slowly add more milk and corn syrup until you get the consistency you prefer.