Sugar Cookies
Makes: I don't really know how many. It would depend on what size and shape cookie cutters you use. I'd guesstimate between 4 and 5 dozen.
Total time: An hour or so. With cookies, it's hard to say, since you have to keep doing different trays full of them, so that makes it take longer.
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1. Cream butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
2. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and keep working in little scoops of flour until the dough will roll out the thickness of pie crust using a floured rolling pin.
4. Cut into 3 inch (7.5 cm) rounds (according to the recipe). Myself, I used my new cookie cutters to cut out all kinds of different Christmas-y shapes. As you run out of dough to cut, pack it back into a ball and re-roll it out to keep cutting until you've used up all the dough.
5. Bake in 350 degrees over for 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Icing
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
5 tsp water or milk (I use milk)
Food colouring (optional)
1. Beat first four ingredients together in a bowl, adding more icing sugar or water as needed to make proper icing consistency.
2a. (the way I've done it) Spread icing onto cookies - I use a cake icing spatula to make it nice and easy. Scatter sprinkles over the iced cookies to add a nice festive touch.
2b. (the cookbook way) Tint the icing your desired colour and pipe designs on cookies.
The reason I haven't been piping them is because I hate my icing decorator bottles. I got them from Pampered Chef a few months back, thinking they would be fun. Sure. Whatever. I'd way rather have a regular icing bag with tips instead of these bottles. It's very difficult to fill them, very difficult to control the flow of the icing, and very difficult to get them clean again. Thankfully they didn't cost too much, so I didn't end up wasting too much money on them, but still. When I buy something, I want it to work well for me.
