Visions of Sugar Cookies

Yea, I know what you're saying.
Those cookies don't look Christmas-ey AT ALL.

That's the beauty of the sugar cookie.
It can be anything you ever dreamed it could be.
Cookie cutters, no cookie cutters,
they will still taste the same...awesome.

We traditionally make these cookies
every year around the holidays,
however, any pics I have of those past
holiday sugar cookies are on a
temporarily dead computer around here. 
Soooo.
Wedding cookies it is!!!!

The cookies in these pics were made for
THE sweetest, sweetest girl I tell you
(who I think should STILL be a
youth intern or AT LEAST a college kid)!
She was instrumental in our two oldest daughters lives...
leading by example outwardly AND inwardly.
Staci was the most beautiful December bride
and last year, these cookies made it all the way
to her wedding in Oklahoma!
We have been so blessed to have had her
AND her two equally as awesome
sister's be a part of our lives!!!

For this week's Free Recipe Friday
I am sharing with you this great old Martha Stewart recipe.
Cookies that we've made for ten plus years.
Once they are made, the dough is kept refrigerated
and can be brought out
to bake a few cookies at a time or a big batch.
Go ahead a make a batch of these up
and if you leave some for Santa,
he just might not leave your house!

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 cups flour (more for rolling out)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup real butter (1 stick)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Non stick baking sheet or one lined with parchment
Royal Icing and other assorted candies, optional

WHAT TO DO:
With your mixer or in a large bowl
using a hand mixer,
cream together the sugar and butter
until it's pale yellow in color.
Add in vanilla and egg, mix well.

In a separate bowl, or right in the
measuring cup, combine the flour,
salt, and baking powder.
Slowly add in to first mixture
until just combined.
Don't overmix.
Divide by hand into two disks.
Wrap tightly with cellophane and refrigerate
several hours or overnight.

When you are ready to bake,
preheat oven to 325.
Remove one disk from the fridge
and let it warm up (about 15 minutes).
Dust your clean countertop with
a bit of flour. Begin to roll out dough
to 1/8 inch thickness.  Sprinkling flour
on top of dough to keep from sticking.
Continue rolling and rotating dough
until you reach the desired thickness.
Using cookie cutters (if desired)
begin cutting out your shapes. 
Either place on a cool cookie sheet
to bake immediately or
 a floured cutting board to keep in the fridge
to keep them from becoming too warm.
If you want to top with M&M's or sprinkles
instead of icing, do this before baking.

Once your cookie/baking sheet is full
bake for about 10 minutes.
You will barely see a golden color around the edges.
Don't bake them until they are brown.
Pale, pale, pale is what we are after here.
Remove from oven and let them sit a minute or two
before removing them to a cooling rack.

You can now place cookies in a ziploc baggie,

freeze them, or save them to decorate later.

For the first six years or so that we made these,
we basically did not use Royal Icing
as we do now.
If you want to go the Royal Icing route,
the internet is full of that easy to find recipe.

In our early years, before meringue powder
and not wanting to use raw egg whites,
we made a thick
powdered sugar and milk icing
with a few drops of vanilla or butter flavoring.
You seriously cannot mess it up.
Combine 2 or more cups of powdered sugar
with a few spoonfuls of milk and whisk away.
If it's too thick, add a tiny bit more milk
only adding a little at a time -
it takes surprisingly less milk than you would think.
It will be thinner than toothpaste (sorry)
but a bit thicker than honey.
(Now is the time to add coloring
if you want anything other than white).

After getting our mixture to just the right consistency,
we spooned it into a good ziploc baggie

 and snipped a small piece off of the corner.
We outlined each cookie with this thick icing
and in a matter of minutes, it was firm to the touch.
Using the leftover icing,
we thinned it with milk to a pourable
almost runny consistency.
We then used a teaspoon to 'pour in' the icing
in between the hardened outlines.

Now the tough part.
Letting the cookies 'dry.'
This may take a few hours or overnight,

depending on that good ol' humidity.
Once dried, cookies can be stacked a bit
and touch each other without fear of
any smudges. 

Leaving the cookies to 'air dry'
will not affect their texture
or dry them out.

From our crew to yours,
we hope you have a very
Merry Christmas!!!!!

And Happy (early) Anniversary
Staci & Tyler ;)