Happy Holidays!!

Christmas is only a week away, and that means that everyone is getting ready for the Holidays…including baking cookies!!

There are a lot of sugar cookie recipes out there, but this one is by far my favorite. This recipe does not require refrigeration. This is important to me because my daughter loves to help me bake cookies, and between mixing the dough, rolling it, cutting it out, baking it, and decorating…..the process is already long enough. I don’t like to add to it by requiring refrigeration!

But most important….they taste great! They have a slight crisp to them, but are still soft in the middle. I actually found this recipe on the back of a box of cookie cutters years ago, and have been using it ever since!

The cookies shown above were the few I was able to decorate myself. All of the others were decorated by my special helpers…my daughter Grace (right) and my niece Morgan (left). They were so eager to help!

Decorating Christmas cookies is a fun little tradition we started a couple of years ago, and the girls look forward to every year!! Here are a few photos of their beautiful cookies!!

You may have noticed, some of the cookies are actually red and green. This is a fun little trick that is easy to do and looks great!! I just added a little bit of gel food coloring to the dough.

No Chill Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 t almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 t baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. By hand or using a stand mixer, mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. It will get lighter in color. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extracts.
3. Slowly add in flour, one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. When adding the last 3/4 cup of flour, also add in the baking powder.
4. This dough does not need to be chilled. If you are planning to dye your cookie dough, mix that in now. Split the dough into two separate balls. Roll dough out on a floured surface, until about 1/4 inch thick.  To prevent sticking, dip cookie cutters in flour before each use.
5. Place cookies on a cookie sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes.

Yields about 3 dozen cookies

Vanilla Buttercream

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, room temperature
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

1. Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy (1-2 minutes). It will get lighter in color.
2. Add in remaining ingredients, mix slowly at first. Once incorporated, mix on high for 3-4 minutes, or until the frosting is fluffy. You can add heavy cream or powdered sugar to get your desired consistency. If the frosting is too sweet, add pinch of salt.