Sugar Cookies

And grandkids! What a sweet combination!

We made moons, and teddy bears, stars and pumpkins.

Hearts and trees covered in snow, clovers and chili's

The boys just wanted to eat the cookies all up!

Right NOW!

But Grandmama says,"Wait we have to admire these cookies!"

"At least for ten minutes!"

I could not find a snowflake cookie cutter, so ....

we made pinetrees covered with snow and

Snowmen with chocolate hats!

Swiss Cutout Cookies:

4 cups flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons orange extract

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt on to wax paper.

2. Beat butter with sugar until fluffy-light in a large bowl; beat in eggs, vanilla, and orange extract

3. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time, blending well to make a soft dough. Wrap dough in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill for about 4 hours, or overnight.

4. Roll out dough, one quarter at a time, to a 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured pastry board Cut with prepared cookie cutters.

To paint cookies before baking you may use egg yolk paint:

Beat 2 egg yolks and 1 teaspoon water in a cup until smooth. Measure 2 teaspoons of mixture into each of four custard cups. Tint one red, one yellow, and one green with food coloring. Add blue, green, and red food coloring to fourth cup to make dark outline color. Keep covered with plastic wrap when not using to prevent mixture from drying out.

Apply outlines for various colors to each cookie with a small artist's brush (cheap ones from children's crafts) Paint the cookies as desired.

5. Bake in moderate oven (350) 10 minutes, or until cookies are firm, but still pale. Allow to cool on cookie sheet 10 minutes. ( I very seldom can wait that long) Loosen with a wide spatula and slide onto wire racks to cool completely.

6. To finish: Decorate cookies with Royal frosting and assorted decorative candies: allow frosting to dry completely.

Royal Frosting:

2 egg whites, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 3 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar.

Beat egg whites and lemon juice until foamy in a medium size bowl. Slowly beat in sugar, until frosting stands in firm peaks and is stiff enough to hold a sharp line when cut with a knife. Keep frosting covered with a damp paper towel to keep from drying. Divide and color as desired. I used little baggies with one corner cut small, as a decorating bag.

This time we only used the royal frosting and we skipped the egg yolk paint. Have FUN!