CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES

12.20.2013

For some reason I decided to make Christmas shaped sugar cookies this week.  Seriously guys, if you did not get from my thanksgiving post, cooking is NOT my favorite thing to do.  Let alone baking.  Ask my friends.  I usually only make chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal crasin cookies. I have those two down pretty well so that is usually the only thing I make.  But I LOVED my grandma's sugar cookies growing up and so I have this need to have them around the holidays I guess. 

Whenever I get a recipe from my grandma, its usually like..... add some of this and about a half a cup of that and a pinch of this....You know, not an exact recipe. And even when I do get an exact recipe I usually write it down terribly short.  Here is the way I wrote down this sugar cookie recipe:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
3 t. baking powder 
1/4 t. salt
1 Tablespoon milk
2 t. vanilla
1/4 cup milk
Directions: cream butter, sugar, eggs together. Add dry ingred. Alternate w/ milk & vanilla.  chill dough 15 min in freezer. Bake at 400 degrees 6-8min. (this made almost 50 cookies)

Now this is not that bad, but the whole time she is reading it to me she is telling me other things that I don't write down that would be helpful when making the cookies. Another reason why I don't like baking, especially cookies and rolls (or anything with dough) I never feel like I have added enough flour!! Whenever I am done, the dough is always WAY too sticky to work with, so I end up adding at least an extra cup of flour to the mix. Well, I decided to try rolling the dough out with the original "recipe" with this new technique I learned (which I will show you below) and it was a DISASTER.  I had to scrap the dough off the plastic wrap and put it back in the mixer, add about 2 or 3 more cups of flour and put it back in the freezer. So if you dare to try my  grandma's sugar cookie recipe make sure you add at least two cups of extra flour.

Okay, let me show you this cool trick to roll our your dough instead of making a mess with flour. Take a damp paper towel and wet the counter.  Then lay down plastic wrap (you will probably need two pieces next to each other).  Lay your dough on the plastic wrap like so: 

  
Then lay plastic wrap over the dough.  Again, you will probably need two pieces next to each other but make sure the seam is secure so that the dough does squirt up through as you are rolling it. 
Then roll the dough out with your rolling pin like you normally would.

 
Viola!   No flour mess.  Peel the wrap of carefully, but it should come off pretty easily.  I actually sprayed the plastic wrap with cooking spray for extra protection after my first run didn't go so well.  
The fun part.  I think this is the first time I have used these cookie cutters.... the first time I have made Christmas sugar cookies actually.
 Okay here is another thing about me and baking.  It is already stressful enough for me to do it on my own, let alone let my kids help me.  I always see commercials and movies with kids and moms making cookies together and its like, "O, ya that looks so fun."  And then I try it and they start sticking their fingers in it while I am getting the next ingredient or start putting something in there before I am ready for them to... I ...just... go a little crazy.. I know I could be better. I could get all the ingredients together ahead of time and have them ready and measured so all they would have to do is pour it in.  Maybe I will try that next time. Anyway's, here is the thing I don't mind letting Thing 1 and Thing 2 help me with, cleaning the bowl ;)

I actually did let them help me cut the cookies out, but even that was quite stressful for me. I know, I am kinda an anxiety freak about somethings. 



 8 minutes was perfect for these 
Okay so like the rolls I did for Thanksgiving, I did these in two days.  I made the cookies the one day and then the next evening (while Thing 1 and Thing 2 were sleeping) I made the frosting, and then frosted them, by myself. I should have at least kept a few out to let them frost them the next day but... boo I am a boring mom. Next time, next time.  I always learn something to do next time when I cook.
Just a few drops of food color.  Okay maybe like 20 or so.
Now I remember why I wanted to make these!  They look so cute (for me anyway) and they taste pretty yummy as well.
So I stored all of the cookies in one gallon size zip-lock bag and some broke when I went to get them out, so those were the ones I got to eat ;)
If you are a better cook than I am, PLEASE leave me your comments on your baking/cooking tips.  Or if you are a mom that LOVES cooking with your kids, give me your tips as well! Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I enjoyed eating them ;)

2 comments :

  1. ahhh your kids are so adorable I just love them! That baby max's smile! Can we say heart breaker??

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  2. I always have to add flour to my mom's recipes and she always thinks I'm crazy! It drives me nuts!

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