Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies are a holiday family tradition in our home for over five generations.
My childhood is filled with memories of helping my mother bake and decorate sugar cookies. Every holiday was a special occasion that required Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies.
My mother collected cookie cutters, both new and antique. I inherited her cookie-cutter collection and now collect them too. We have jars, boxes and drawers full of cookie cutters, old and new. With this Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies recipe being so simple, choosing which cookie cutters to use is actually the most difficult part.
From St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks and Valentine’s Day hearts to Halloween ghosts, we make cookies for nearly every holiday. From Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas angels, we make cookies of every shape and size possible. Making Spring flowers and Autumn leaves, seasons of the year, are just as good a reason to make cookies as are holidays.
The key to Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies is the fun. Some recipes just lend themselves to having fun. Rolling out, baking and decorating sugar cookies with children, grandchildren, family or friends can be such a joy. We make cookies with our granddaughter for nearly every holiday. I love to hear her ask, “When are we making cookies again, Papa?”
Oh, did I mention how incredibly good they taste? Just try to eat only one and watch as your family or guests take another cookie every time they pass by the cookie plate. They really are a little taste of heaven.
So enjoy both the fun of making these Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies and delight in each sugary bite. Once you have tried this recipe, we hope that it becomes a family tradition in your home for generations to come. Enjoy!
Recipe: Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
- 3 cups Flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 qtr. lb. cubes (sticks) of butter
- 1 Tbsp. imitation vanilla or 1 tsp. real vanilla
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
First, in a bowl, mix all ingredients together very well, forming a large ball of dough.
Next, roll out the dough on a floured board or surface about ¼ inch thick. Hint: Be sure to roll your rolling pin in flour periodically to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
Then, press and cut out cookie shapes using your favorite cookie cutters. Hint: Dip the cookie cutter in flour between each cutting to keep cookie shapes from sticking to the cutters. Repeat: Return the uncut dough pieces to the bowl. Form into another ball and roll out again and cut more cookies. Repeat this process until all cookie dough has be used.
Next, place the cut cookie shapes on a greased or buttered cookie sheet in a 350-degree oven for about 10 – 12 minutes or until the cookies just start to turn golden brown around the edges.
Hint: Do not overcook! Remember, remove cookies from the oven at the first sign of browning.
Finally, remove the cookies to a cooling rack. When the cookies are completely cooled, it is time to frost and decorate. (See the Butter Cream Frosting recipe below.)
Recipe: Butter Cream Frosting
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/3 cup (2/3 stick) soft butter
Instructions:
First, in a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
Then, beat with a hand-held electric mixer or Kitchen Aid mixer until smooth and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl often. If the texture is too stiff to spread easily, beat in a few extra drops of milk. This recipe will decorate one batch of Good Old Fashion Cookies or the tops and sides of two 8-inch or 9-inch cake layers.
Next, spoon out the Butter Cream Frosting into separate bowls for each color you will be decorating with. Add a few drops of food coloring of your choice to each bowl and mix. Hint: Keep plastic wrap over your bowls of frosting to keep them from drying out.
Now, start decorating. The Butter Cream Frosting is great for fancy decorating with a piping bag. In keeping with the Old Fashion theme and family tradition from my childhood, I simply use a butter knife.
Finally, using the butter knife, spread the frosting onto the cookies. I decorate with one color at a time, always starting with white. For example, I decorated the white stripes on the candy cane cookies, the white stripe on the ornament cookies, the body of the snowman cookies and the candle cookies first. Then I go back one color at a time adding the red, then the green and so on.
Another decorating hint, to make the buttons on the snowmen, the star on the Christmas trees and the berries on the holly, simply dip the end of the butter knife in the frosting and dab it on the cookie.
It really is that easy to make, frost and decorate Good Old Fashion Sugar Cookies with Butter Cream Frosting. Have fun and enjoy!
