Sugar Cut Outs

There are a million different recipes for Sugar Cookies out there, I know.  What's special about this one, you ask?  Well, it doesn't have any secret ingredients or anything.  But it's a special recipe to us because it's the recipe John's mom always used at Christmas. And according to John, the cookies have to be pink and mint green, too, because that's how he remembers them from childhood (remember back in the 80s when all food coloring only made pastel colors?).   But I will tell you it's a solid sugar cookie recipe and they keep their shape well. 

Look at the cute ones the kids did....We make the candy canes into Js in our family...our last name is James, see....

Sugar Cut Outs

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

No instructions come with this recipe because it's an old one.  Here's how I make them:  cream butter (room temperature) and sugar together until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and mix until well combined.  Add vanilla.  Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.  Add dry ingredients gradually until just combined.  Separate dough into 2 flat circles, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill them at least one hour. 
Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch and cut with cutters.  Bake 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees. 

Sugar Cut Out Icing (please don't buy icing in a can, please)

2 tablespoons butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add milk to desired consistency. 

Cookie Mix in a Jar

I love to receive (hint, hint) and I also love to give gifts of food.  Barefoot Contessa once said that any gift for an adult should be consumable....food, gift card, tickets, liquor....and I tend to agree.   NOTE TO HUSBANDS: By "adult", I mean friends/neighbors/teachers/hostesses, NOT SPOUSES. 

Here's what I made last year for our teachers and friends: Cowboy Cookie Mix.  If you're already behind with all the present wrapping and Christmas parties going on and you don't have anything yet for your kids' teachers, this is quick and cute. Oh, and cheap, too.  And the cookies, once they are baked, are really good. 

 

Christmas Jar Cookie Mix

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar

Basically, you just layer the ingredients in a jar.  But there are a few secrets to making it look perfect. 

1) Start with a 1 quart mason jar. I found these at Walmart. Cheap. Maybe $15 for 12 jars.  You also need a wide mouth canning funnel.  I found a plastic one right next to the mason jars for 50 cents. It's worth the investment to get the stuff into the jar!

2) Layer the ingredients in this order. 

First: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
Second: oats
Third: m&ms
Fourth: chocolate chips
Fifth: brown sugar
Sixth: white sugar

3)  After each layer, PACK down the ingredients with a wooden spoon.  Really pack it down, or else everything wont fit. 

4) Screw on the lid to the jar, add cute fabric to the top, and tie with a pretty ribbon.  Cut the fabric into 6 inch squares and the ribbon into 25 inch pieces. Place the fabric on top and tie ribbons around the lid to hold it in place.

5) Attach a tag with the baking instructions.  I just printed them out in a small font and taped it to the back of my gift tags with double sided tape.

Add
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Roll the cookie dough into 1 1/2 in balls and bake about 10 minutes.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

While you can't beat a good Nezle Tulhouze (you've seen that Friends episode, right?), this is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I've adapted several recipes over the years to make MY perfect chocolate chip cookie.  The oatmeal gives it a great texture and the extra salt is just perfect.  Everyone needs a good chocolate chip cookie recipe; if you don't have one, this should be it.  

I made these for us to eat while we watched the Razorback game on TV, and boy, did we ever eat!! I'm glad I put half the dough in the fridge for later....

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 (12-ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl.
Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla in large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture and rolled oats. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop batter by well-rounded teaspoonfuls (I use a tiny ice cream scoop) onto a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden.

Cool cookies on sheets for 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Our Favorite Cookie

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Thumbprint cookies are my family's favorite cookie, by far.   John likes them so much that he hides a bunch of them in the back of the freezer (shhh, don't tell the kids).  The not too sweet shortbread with the buttery, chocolate center is fabulous!  I may or may not eat the leftover chocolate with a spoon out of the bowl...I'm sure Martha does that, too.

And by the way, the recipe says you should pull the cookies out of the 350 degree oven after 10 minutes and use your THUMB to make the "thumbprints".  Well, unless you're like Martha and developed thumbs of steel in a minimum security women's prison, you might want to use the end of a wooden spoon.  

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies (from Martha Stewart's Cookie Cookbook)

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together 1 stick butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium high.
   
2. Roll dough by teaspoonfuls into balls, and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press thumb into tops of cookies to make indentations. Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
   
3. Combine chocolate, 4 tablespoons butter, and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.
   

Creamy Lemon Squares

Like Lemon Squares? I sure do.  Well, these Creamy Lemon Squares knock them out of the ballpark!  They are even better cold.  It's funny how the recipe says it makes 12 squares.  Ha! It was about 4 squares in my house....so good.

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

from the Pioneer Woman

1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, slightly softened

1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)

1 cup oats

1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk

½ cups lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.

 

Press half of oat crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 8 inch pan.

Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. The other half of the crumb mixture mix and knead together with clean hands so that the butter that you added earlier gets incorporated then crumble on top of lemon layer but don’t press.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.

Serve cool. Makes around one dozen.

 

The Best Oatmeal Cookies

For me, cookies are just a chocolate delivery vehicle.  But John is weird.  He likes peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies, in that order. And something weirder about his favorite oatmeal cookies?  No cinnamon and no raisins. But let me tell you, they are just good!  They're thin and so chewy.  We love them!

This is the recipe his mom always made for him, so while he was out on Saturday afternoon, the girls and I whipped these up as an early Valentine's Day surprise.

Greta's Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup shortening (I sometimes use butter if I don't have shortening in the house)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats (not quick cooking)

Cream shortening and sugars together with electric mixer until fluffy.  Add vanilla and eggs.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to mixer.  Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet and cook at 350 for 11-12 minutes.  Let cool on sheet to keep them chewy.