Friday, December 21, 2007

Joy of cookies!


Happy Holiday everyone!!!

I had my last day of work for the 2007 year, and what a year it was! Business was the best it's been, thanks to my fantastic clients, and catering brought my workload up to a frenzied pitch...

I treated myself to a good loooong massage this afternoon and a movie with a friend. We was Sweeney Todd which was excellent, but rather gruesome.

Anyhow, I came home and got to work preparing sugar cookies for our cookie decorating day tomorrow in preparation for the big man in red. We used the Joy of Cooking Sugar cookie recipe, it's super easy to make, but don't forget to let your butter come to room temp. for at least 1 day before you make these- do NOT skimp and try to microwave the butter, it throws the consistency of the cookie way off. Here's the recipe we used tonight. Roll the cookies out as thin as you can on a well floured work space and bake them until they are just cooked through, they shouldn't have any color to them.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Add and beat in the egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until evenly incorporated. Stir in flour until well blended and smooth.

Roll the dough out on floured parchment paper if using immediately, if not, roll into a ball and cover with saran wrap until ready to use.

WHEN READY TO BAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.

Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), gently peel away and replace 1 sheet of the wax paper. (This will make it easier to lift the cookies from the paper later.) Peel off and discard the second layer. Using 2- or 3-inch cutters, cut out cookies. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.


Bake for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, Then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Nicole:

This sugar cookie recipes sounds great. I wonder - do you have any favorite frosting recipes too?

Happy holidays to you and your family!

Cheers,
Joanie B.

Time to Eat! said...

I made Royal Icing for todays decorating, it calls for powdered egg whites, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and a little milk.

If you don't have powdered egg whites- which I normally don't, I just do powdered sugar, a little milk, a touch of vanilla, and a little softened butter. Whip it with a hand mixer of wooden spoon.

I divide the frosting up and add a little food coloring to each batch. You can make the frosting a day of time and keep it stored in a Tupperware.

Make the frosting as thick as you can, it'll adhere to the cookies better. Good luck!