But I wanted to do something special for my mom.  I thought about making pretty decorations from icing; flowers and borders and such.  Then I saw this cake and thought to myself, “My mom would LOVE this.”  That cake is so darned cute and clean that I simply had to try to make it.  It has my mother’s two favorite colors and it’s too adorable for words.  The only problem was that I had never worked with fondant before and there was simply no way that I could replicate this work with icing.

Thank goodness for the internet.

There are many many many articles and videos detailing how to smooth fondant over a cake.  There are several how-to’s for making fondant roses.  Fondant bows have their own articles as well.  I went into this endeavor feeling well-educated and quite confident.  If the project went to hell, I could always just ice it and present my mother with a plain white cake.

I just made a simple two-layered 9-inch round white cake.  I made simple white icing to go in between the layers and to go over the cake before the fondant went on.  For the fondant, I simply bought plain white fondant at my local craft store (I bought way too much expecting a million and a half mistakes on my part).  Following the internet’s infinite wisdom, I also purchased gel food coloring so that I could color the fondant.

The coloring and kneading of fondant is a giant pain in the ass.  There, I said it.  It takes a LOT of work to get out all of the swirls of color and get a uniform color in the fondant.  There is a lot of kneading and back work.  Fondant (at least the stuff I bought) is a lot more firm and dense than I had anticipated.  It took a very long time to simply color the fondant.

Fondant also needs to be kept moist.  I worked with small amounts at a time and kept the rest rolled in a ball under a wet paper towel.  It worked well for me.

Another surprise I got was that you do not use powdered sugar to keep the fondant from sticking while you work with it.  It was an assumption, really, but I was surprised to learn that the best powder to use is actually cornstarch.  A little cornstarch goes a long way and it worked great with keeping the fondant from sticking.

Mostly, making a fondant cake is just a lot of time and work on your part.  My first try came out looking rather nice, but a pro could point out my sloppiness and many mistakes quite easily.  Fondant cakes will only be a very special occasion on my part.  The making of this cake from the baking of the cake to photographing of the finished product took me 12 hours.  That DOES include cooling down time, but it’s still a lengthy process.  It may also be due to the fact that this was my first time and I wasn’t working very fast.

At any rate, here is the finished cake.  Not bad for a first-timer but still riddled with mistakes.

I wasn’t entirely pleased with how the colors came out.  I was looking for more cool and muted colors and I ended up with ultra loud neon colors.  My own fault, of course.

I like the bow.  Speaking as someone who tries to avoid this word, I do think the bow is CUTE.

My roses are a little blumpy and not quite delicate.  They look like flowers, though, so it is a success in my book.

Now people, when I place the phrase “If I can do it, anybody can do it” before you, I mean it.  I am not a particularly talented person nor am I the most patient  person.  This takes a lot of time and work and that’s about all.  If you can devote a lot of time both reading up on the how-to’s  of fondant and the decorating itself, then you can do it.

I will warn you though, it tastes like crap.

Enjoy!  Haha!

Related posts:

1. A “Holy Crap” Dessert
2. Wilton Birthday Cakes for Kids

Cherry Eggnog Quick Bread

Favorite Brand Name Old-Fashioned Holiday Recipes 2004

2-1/2 cups AP flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tblsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1-1/4 cups prepared dairy eggnog

6 Tblsp. butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped candied red cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degreed F.  Grease three 5-1/2X3-inch mini-load pans.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Stir eggnog, melted butter, eggs and vanilla in medium bowl until well blended.  Add eggnog mixture to flour mixture.  Mix just until all ingredients are moistened.  Stir in pecans and cherries.  Spoon into prepared pans.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.  Cool in pans 15 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.  Store tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature.  YIELD: 3 mini-loaves.

Oh my gosh, the SMELL from this bread baking is incredible.  And then to taste it for the first time….BLISS!  It’s a lot like a cake actually.  An eggnog cherry cake.  But as a fan of eggnog, I find this to be a wonderful bread.  It tastes of eggnog and nutmeg along with the cherries.  It’s really very good and incredibly festive.  I hope you’ll try it.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Eggnog Pancakes
2. Christmas Yule Loaf
3. Heritage House Blueberry Muffins

Festive Yule Loaf

Favorite Brand Name Old Fashioned Holiday Recipes 2004

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 egg

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped candied red and green cherries

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Vanilla Glaze (recipe follows, optional)  (No, it’s not optional.  If you make this, make the damned glaze that goes with it or you’re wasting your time!)

Combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl.  Heat milk and butter over medium heat until very warm (120-130 degrees F).  Gradually stir into flour mixture.  Add egg.  Mix with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute.  Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently.  Toss raisins, cherries and pecans with 1/4 cup flour in small bowl; stir into yeast mixture.  Stir in enough of remaining 1 cup flour to make a soft dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface.  Knead about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  Place in greased bowl; turn to grease top of dough.  Cover with towel.  Let rise in warm, draft-free place about 1 hour or until double in volume.

Punch dough down.  Divide in half.  Roll out each half on lightly floured surface to form an 8-inch circle.  Fold in half; press only folded edge firmly.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Cover with towel.  Let rise in warm draft-free place about 30 minutes or until double in volume.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on wire rack.  Frost with Vanilla Glaze, if desired (DO IT!).  Store in airtight containers.  YIELD:  2 loaves

VANILLA GLAZE:  Combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 4-5 teaspoons light cream or half-and-half and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract in small bowl; stir until smooth.

That’s what it looks like.  It’s very pretty and looks very much like a Stollen.  The picture from the cookbook made it look much more dense than it actually is.  Don’t misunderstand, it is a dense bread, but being a yeast bread, it never gets too dense if you make it right.

Couple of things about yeast breads:  When the recipe calls for you to heat liquids to a certain temperature before adding them to a bowl containing the yeast, always keep in mind that your bowl can greatly reduce the temperature of the liquids, and can make it difficult to activate the yeast.  Particularly if you are using a metal bowl, make the liquids a bit warmer than 130 degrees F so that the shock of being put into a cold bowl will not cool the liquid so much that it will not activate the yeast.

Also, I know it is tempting to let technology do a lot of the manual labor for us, but please do not skip the kneading step.  Even if you have a cool stand-up mixer with a dough hook attachment, you WILL NOT get the same results using that.  You have to get your hands in there and knead the dough manually in order to get a proper yeast dough.

Lastly, when you are instructed to let the dough rise in a warm draft-free place, there is no better place than your oven. Simply set the oven to it’s lowest temperature and let it warm up a bit while you are preparing the dough.  Then let the oven door hang wide open for about 2 minutes before putting the dough inside to let any excess heat out.  If the air is super dry, put a small oven-safe bowl or dish on the bottom rack of the oven filled with steaming water.  It’s the PERFECT environment for proofing a bread.

This is a good bread.  It’s very festive and it’s a nice way to have a quick snack without jamming my face full of Christmas cookies.  I simply nuke a slice of this bread in my microwave and smear a bit of butter on it before getting on with my day.  Give it a try.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Christmas Cookies: New and Old
2. Eggs Benedict
3. Light Artichoke Pizza

Finally, I promised myself that I would make them for Christmas.  I went out and bought a standard set of Linzer cookie cutters and added them to my to-do list for my holiday baking.  I bought the necessary ingredients and went to it.

I used the recipe provided by Joy of Baking which is actually a pretty reliable place to go online when looking for recipes for baked goods.  The recipe can be found here.  I’m not retyping it for you.  It’s really long and I’ve had a very long weekend.  I’m pooped, but I’m sure the people over at Joy of Baking will thank me for the additional page hits *cough cough brownies cough*.  It’s one extra small movement to click on the link to go to the recipe.  Go on, you can do it.

These cookies ROCK.  No, seriously.  People who don’t usually like cookies love these cookies.  People who don’t usually like to even EAT like these cookies.  That’s how good they are!  I used raspberry and peach jam for the middles of these and they turned out so good.

Try this recipe.  THIS VERY RECIPE.  I know some recipes for Linzer cookies are pretty much just shortbread jam cookies.  These cookies are special with the ground up toasted almonds in the dough.  Give it a try and make extra.  They go fast.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Christmas Cookies: New and Old

The first fudge that I made is fudge in name only.  It’s really melted chocolate and condensed milk with peanut butter swirled through it.  It’s entirely too soft and doesn’t set up into anything more substantial than goo.  This is the fault of the recipe, not me.  It’s good…smooth and melt-in-your-mouth, it’s just not really fudge.  Here’s the recipe.

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Kraft

1 package (8 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate (this recipe calls for a name brand [I HATE THAT] chocolate, but you can use 1 oz. blocks of chips.  Doesn’t matter.)

1 can (14 oz.) sweet condensed milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup peanut butter

Line 8-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over the sides.

Microwave chocolate and milk in bowl on high for 2-3 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 2 minutes.  Stir until chocolate is melted, using pot holders on hot bowl.  Blend in vanilla.  Drop peanut butter by tsp. over fudge after you spread chocolate into pan.  Cut through peanut butter with a knife several times for marble effect.  If you want it to be cut into squares, freeze it.

That one was done and in the freezer in no time.  It was the next batch of fudge that caused me the most trouble and the near-heart attack.  REAL fudge requires a bit of candy making.  You have to melt down some sugar and cook it until it reaches a “soft ball” stage which is achieved when the sugar reaches about 235 degrees F or thereabouts.  I had my candy thermometer ready and was itching to have my first go at it.

I wish I had a mentor who could have warned me.  I wish some of the articles I read online had the warning that I needed.  When the sugar comes to a boil, it foams up…..a lot.  If the pan you are using looks big enough, think again.  You need to be using a pan that looks much bigger than what you need so that you can avoid what happened to me.  Lucky for you, I am here to tell you about my massive fail so that you can learn from my stupidity.

It started out fine.  The sugar was at a slow bubble as the recipe told me to do.  Then as it got hotter, it foamed up and started overflowing from my pot.  I stared at it for a minute, mildly annoyed until it occurred to me that this was not hot water I was watching pool at the bottom of my electric stove’s drip pan.  It was molten sugar and I had better freaking do something about it!  So I yelled a few obscenities, lowered the heat and let the sugar mixture get to it’s intended temperature before mixing it with the other ingredients and setting it aside to harden.  I looked at the metal heating coil on my stove coated in a thick layer of molten sugar.  The drip pan below was positively filled with the stuff.  There was no way I was going to be able to clean it any time soon..so I did what I have done a million other times when I get goop on my heating coil.  I turned that sucker up to high to let it burn off.  That was going great until the mess in the drip pan got overheated and burst into flames.  Tall flames.  You read that right, I caught my freaking stove on fire.  I hopped from one foot to the other screaming, “OH SHIT!” looking anxiously at my handy dandy kitchen fire extinguisher wondering if I should use it or not.  Then the little voice in my head that has kept my butt in one piece so far screamed at me, “TURN THE HEAT OFF, STUPID!”  I listened and the flames died down and the mess in the drip pan that was once molten sugar was now a pile of burnt sugar ash.  No real damage was done and I was left slightly shaken, but ok.

The bad thing is, the fudge that I was making was a beloved recipe from my grandmother.  Peanut Butter Candy it’s called.  Although the candy itself turned out great and I ate my first bite of the stuff with relish, I will always remember it being my first foray into candy-making….and I almost burned my house down doing it.  Here’s the recipe.

Peanut Butter Candy

My Grandma Ross

4-1/2 cups white sugar

1 stick butter

1 can evaporated milk

Boil to soft ball stage.

Mix the following:

1 cup peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla

1 (13 oz.) jar marshmallow creme

Do not heat.  Pour into 9X13 inch pan.  Set aside to harden.

It’s easy and it’s the BEST peanut butter fudge ever.  I’m not biased there.  Ok, well maybe a little.

The third fudge that I tried was the fudge recipe provided to me on the back of a jar of marshmallow fluff.  I’m not going to share a recipe.  I messed it up and the mistake was a STUPID mistake.

Being a bit gun shy from my first attempt at candy making, I decided to play it safe and use an enormous pan to melt the sugar this time.  Well, the pan has a very wide bottom so there was a lot of direct heat contact with the sugar.  In hindsight I know now that I should have lessened the cooking time…and maybe used the damned candy thermometer.  I know that in hindsight.  What happened was I cooked the sugar too long, and when I added the chocolate to it, the sugar seized up and turned rock hard on me.  It got thrown in the garbage with a fare thee well and my middle finger waving it goodbye.

At least after all of that I DID manage to get some actual fudge from the experience.

This just goes to show you that we all make mistakes.  And sometimes they are massively huge mistakes that are embarrassing and stupid.  This is my gift to you.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Triple Chocolate Ice Cream
2. Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing
3. Banana Pancakes Smothered in Peanut Butter

Cooking and baking for people all around is a generous and sweet gesture, particularly for people who have experienced life-changing events.  Someone you know just had a baby?  Make them a big pan of lasagna (or any other large dish that freezes beautifully and makes great leftovers) and hand deliver it with a teddy bear.  A friend just lost family member?  Cake and a HUGE pot of spaghetti.  In times like that, the last thing a person wants to do is think about what to make for dinner.

Having friends feed you and take care of you in an inadvertently nurturing way is a great thing.  It might not be appreciated much during the moment, (and that’s OK) but these people will look back on this and remember that you are there for them.  And that’s what everybody wants a good friend to know, right?  We’re here for them to the best of our abilities…even in times where the circumstances are a little hard for us to relate to and a little awkward to talk about.  Make them some food.

One of my recent favorite food gifts was to a friend who is experiencing a bit of a dry spell in the love department.  To show my sympathy for such an atrocious state of being, I mailed her a box of rich chocolate cupcakes.  I sent her a card with the cupcakes expressing my regret at her becoming “persona non nookie” of her town.  We started joking and the cupcakes slowly started being called the non nookie cupcakes.  I love this.  When we think of sending sympathy gifts, our minds immediately turn to death in the family and such.  Why not send a non nookie food gift?  It’s my invention people and it’s a terrific idea!  I should look into nailing down a day on the calendar and calling it Sympathy for All Persons Suffering Non Nookie Day or SAPSNN Day.  Ok, it needs work, but there aren’t many people out there who can’t say that at some time or another the lack of physical love would be nice to forget in a box of gooey chocolate baked goods.

A picture of the very first non nookie cupcake.  Picture courtesy of the persona non nookie to whom they were gifted.

Don’t be afraid to mail baked goods to far-away friends.  Here is a great how-to article on packaging and mailing a cake, but it would work equally well with cupcakes, pies, or cookies.  And also, I personally never get anything interesting in the mail.  A box of cookies would be a great break-up in the horrific routine of fliers and ads for car dealerships.  If you want to mail something other than baked goods, I’d either forget about that idea or get some dry ice and send that stuff in a deep freeze.

We all eat.  Most of us enjoy eating.  It’s better than sending a basket of soaps.

No related posts.

Over the past 4 years, however, I have started trying many different things for Christmas.  For example, I started a tradition that we call The Five Days of Decadence where December 20-25th I make 5 decadent dinners and desserts.  (I didn’t get around to doing it this year because of the whole moving and unpacking thing, but I’ll write about it next year!)  And instead of having either ham or turkey Christmas day like when I was a kid, I make lamb.  And for someone as unwilling to try new traditions as myself, I have really enjoyed this new tradition.

Christmas cookies are one of the things that I stick with tradition.  I always make Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Sugar Cookies as well as Gingerbread Men.  That’s it.  Even though there are hundreds of other cookies recipes out there that are terrific for the holidays, I stick with those because they evoke memories of being a kid sitting by the tree and having warm cookies and milk after dinner.

A few years ago, my mother-in-law got my this cookbook for Christmas.  I was surprised at how much I adore this cookbook.  No really.  I LOVE this cookbook and every November, I get all giddy when I get to pull it out and start planning my Five Days of Decadence and pondering the desserts and breads.  This year I pondered the cookies.  I didn’t get very adventurous because I didn’t have a lot of things on hand to deviate from my usual and I didn’t want to go to the store.  But I DID deviate.  I added two new cookies to my roster, and I’m glad that I did.

Before I start talking about the actual cookies, I’d like to share with you two tools that make my holiday baking experience so much more pleasant.

This cookbook stand is wonderful (have I written about it before?)  It stands the cookbooks up so I’m not leaning over them, and it has a plastic cover to both protect the pages (I get goop all over my cookbooks) and to hold the book open is the binding is too tight.  I love this thing.

I can’t find it on the website from which I originally bought this, but here’s a few places where you can get one of your own.

My KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  This thing has become indispensable to me when it comes to baking.  It whips up a batch of cookie dough in the blink of an eye.  And for clean up between different batches I just full my sink with hot soapy water and do a quick clean of the paddle and bowl so that I can start a new batch the second the old batch has finished.

I won’t lie, these are pricey.  I usually don’t like to recommend pricey things because I don’t live like that and I like to put my money to good use, but trust me:  this is a good investment.  Have a look.

And now, on to the cookies!  As you may have notices, this post’s pictures are much larger than usual.  That’s because it’s about Christmas cookies!  I want you to be able to have a face-full of cookies just by looking at this blog.  I’ll start with the two new cookies that I’ve added this year and finish with my usuals!

Molasses Spice Cookies

Favorite Brand Old-Fashioned Holiday Recipes (2004)

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg, beaten

2 cups AP flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup granulated brown sugar or granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease cookie sheets; set aside. <–Somer’s Hint:  Use parchment paper on your cookie sheets instead of grease.  The cookies won’t stick and clean up is a lot easier.

Beat granulated sugar and shortening about 5 minutes in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add molasses and egg; beat until fluffy.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mustard and salt in medium bowl.  Add to shortening mixture; mix until just combined.

Place brown sugar in shallow dish.  Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat.  Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 2 minutes.  Remove to wire racks; cool completely.  YIELD:  6 dozen cookies.

These are delicious cookies.  I think next year I’ll make them for Thanksgiving!

Buttery Almond Cutouts

Favorite Brand Old-Fashioned Holiday Recipes (2004)

1 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

3 tsp. almond extract, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

4-1/3 cups AP flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tblsp. milk

1 Tblsp. light corn syrup

Assorted food colorings

Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add sour cream, eggs, 2 tsp. almond extract and vanilla; beat until smooth.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat just until well blended.

Divide dough into 4 pieces; flatten each piece into a disc.  Wrap each disc tightly with plastic wrap.  refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.

Combine powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup and remaining 1 tsp. almond extract in small bowl; stir until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Working with 1 disc of dough at a time, roll out on floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness.  Cut dough into desired shapes using 2-1/2 inch cookie cutters.  Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are brown.  Remove from baking sheets to wire racks to cool.  <–Somer’s Hint:  This is a very sticky dough so be sure to really flour your preparation surface and also dust a generous amount of flour on the top of the dough before you roll it out.

Separate powdered sugar mixture into 3 or 4 batches in small bowls; tint each batch with desired food coloring.  Frost cookies.  <–Somer’s Hint: This is not a lot of frosting and you may need to make more.  A quick and easy way to frost these cookies is to put the frosting into microwave-safe bowls and microwave for 10-30 seconds.  The icing gets runny and instead of using a knife or spatula to ice the cookie, simply dip the face of the cookies into the thinned frosting and use a spatula to scrape off any excess.  It goes by very quickyl this way. YIELD:  About 3 dozen cookies.

These cookies were the last to be finished, but I can tell that they will be the first cookies gone.  They are crazy good.  My husband and son are constantly stealing away to the dining room to sneak one of these.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 12th Edition (2003)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2-1/2 cups AP flour

1 12-oz. package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts (filberts).  Optional (I never use nuts!)

In a large mixing bowl beat shortening and butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda.  Beat until mixture is combines, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  Stir in chocolate chips, and , if you’re crazy, nuts.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 375 degrees F oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  YIELD:  about 60 cookies

This recipe does not yield pretty cookies.  But I don’t care.  They taste awesome and I look forward to making them every Christmas (I also make them throughout the year because I LOVE them).

Oatmeal Cookies

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 12th Edition (2003)

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)  (I use it!)

1/4 tsp. ground cloves (optional)  (I use it, too!)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1-3/4 cups AP flour

2 cups rolled oats

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and cloves.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  Stir in rolled oats.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Somer’s Note: You won’t see any raisins being added to this.  YUCK.

As a kid, these were a great excuse to eat cookies for breakfast.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 12th Edition (2003)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar or 1/4 cup honey (I used honey)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/4 cups AP flour

Granulated sugar

In a large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add the granulated sugar, honey, baking soda, and baking powder.  Beat until combines, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  If necessary, cover and chill dough until easy to handle.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll in additional granulated sugar to coat.  Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten by making crisscross marks with the tines of a fork.  Bake in a 375 degrees F. oven for 7-9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  YIELD:  about 36 cookies

Not only are these great holiday cookies, but they are also my “I’ve had a bad day” cookies.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 12th Edition (2003)

2/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 Tblsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups AP flour

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer in medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add granulated sugar, baking powder and salt.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  Divide dough in half.  If necessary, cover and chill dough 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick.  Using a 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut dough into desired shapes.  Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 375 degrees F. oven for 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned.  Transfewr to a wire rack and let cool.  If desired, frost with icing.  YIELD:  about 36 cookies

A simple frosting, colored sugar, and cinnamon candies go a long way.  For the simple frosting,combine 4 cups confectioners’ sugar and 1/3 cup milk.  Play with it for desired thickness by adding more confectioners’ sugar or more milk.

Gingerbread Men

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 12th Edition (2003)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1 Tblsp. vinegar

2-1/2 cups AP flour

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add granulated sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined.  Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  Divide dough in half.  Cover and chill dough about 3 hours or until easy to handle.

Grease cookie sheet (parchment paper!); set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick.  Using a 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes.  Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degrees F. oven for 5-6 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool.  If desired, decorate cookie with icing and candies.  YIELD:  36-48 cookies.

The cookie on the top right makes me laugh.  He looks like a bondage fetish gingerbread man!  I love these cookies.  They are cute and very tasty.  And oh, so festive!

Enjoy!

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