Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas cookies



These are my special cookies that all of my family love. I make them for a lot of the holidays and just use a simple cookie cutter and butter icing with sprinkles. The kids love to add the sprinkles when they are around and usually the whole kitchen gets sprinkled.
Sugar Cookies
Cream together:
1/2 cup crisco and 1/2 cup of softened butter or margerine
1 and 1/2 cup sugar
Add:
3 eggs
1 tsp. almond flavoring
2 tsp. vanilla flavoring
4 and 1/2 cups of sifted flour - may take a little less
Combine all ingredients; roll into 2 balls and wrap in wax paper; chill
When ready to cook remove from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature until it feels soft enough to roll out with a rolling pin ( a smooth glass makes a good rolling pin) Roll to approximately 1/4 inch or less thick. Cut out the cookies. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
Butter icing
1- 1 pound box of powdered sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter or margerine
4-6 tbsp of milk
2 tsp of almond flavoring
1 tbsp. of vanilla flavoring
Cream butter and sugar; add milk as needed to make icing consistency
Add other ingredients. Spread on cookies and add sprinkles
Artificial coloring is made from coal tar and could be the cause of a variety of health issues.
I usually use white icing and then a small amount of sprinkles.
I recently tried a natural coloring but it did not much for the white icing. It did however make a very soft nice looking sugar when mixed with plain white sugar. That is not used in this picture. I ordered the natural flavoring from seelecttea.com

1 comment:

Michele said...

Yummy! Oh I can just taste the goodness now! I can't wait to make them. Thanks for the recipe. My kids loving making cookies. They love eating them even more!