Monday, December 19, 2011

Merry Christmas Week: Best Roll out Sugar cookie recipe and vintage cookie cutters

I think I am FINALLY starting to get over this cold. It has been a yucky one. I started out with the stomach flu last Sunday and then went straight into a GIANT head cold that has left me in bed ALL week. I can tell I’m getting better because I have the desire to do Christmas stuff again!! Thank goodness there is a week left!! I wanted to share with you my FAVORITE sugar cookie recipe and my all time favorite Christmas cookie cutters. Tomorrow we’ll be making our all time favorite Santa cookies. These are extra special to me because these are the cookies that I grew up on. It just wasn’t Christmas without these familiar faces!!

I had never been able to make my own up until two years ago. You see, these are special vintage cookie cutters. My grandma had them, and when my mom was a young mother, she bought sets for my mom and my aunts. Well, fast forward 30 years and they are a little harder to find! Two years ago my grandma FOUND the sets again and gave them to me and my cousins. How cool is that?? So, now we can ll make our own Santa cookies and continue the tradition.

Good news…I searched high and low and found them for you too!! If you want a set you can find them here:

Once you have your very own set you can make some of these with them:

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE:The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

Best Ever Rolled Sugar Cookies

Original Recipe Yield 5 dozen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

I am NOT a huge decorated sugar cookie fan, but I really do like these. When you decorate these Santas, you can also cover the beard and white parts of the hat with icing AND coconut and it is super yummy and cute!

Here are my TWO favorite tips for making any roll out cookies:

#1 instead of dusting your work surface with flour, use powdered sugar. This adds to the flavor of the cookies and aids in preventing the dough from sticking.

#2 if you have trouble transfering your cookies to your pan after you cut them out, roll out and cut your shapes on parchment paper. Then remove the excess dough from the paper, transfer the whole sheet of parchment to your pan and bake!

I hope you have fun making and decorating your sugar cookies thie season!!

Have a great Monday!

-tammy