Sugar Cookies

Okay. Here is the truth. I really don't enjoy making sugar cookies. By the time they are made, my back is just killing me and my stress level is peaked. When I am eating them, I think to myself, "Chocolate chip cookies taste a lot better than these and they are WAY easier." However, the kids love to make them. They are a lot of fun to make around holidays. So, I make them a few times a year. One day this month while I was grocery shopping, I found these cute Halloween cookie cutters and in a moment of thinking like a child instead of a mom, I bought them. So now add October to the list of months I must make sugar cookies. Some day I will miss it :) I will be like my grandma who made TONS of sugar cookies every Christmas in anticipation of our arrival.

AGE RANGE

One and up. My kids love to help cook. I let them start as soon as they are interested and I allow them to "help."

SKILLS DEVELOPED

• Cooking/Baking
• Math
• Fine motor skills
• Colors if you do frosting

PREP

• If you let your child help make the dough, you don't need to do anything more than put on your apron and wash your hands.
• One more thing...put your "patient" hat on.

ACTIVITY

• Make dough (recipe below)
• Chill dough if needed
• Roll out dough. Let your child help
• Cut out shapes. Let your child help. At first, I let them put the cookie cutters wherever they wanted to, but I soon realized we would be there all night that way (since they were not spaced close together). I then placed it on the dough and let them cut it out
• Bake the cookies
• Make frosting (recipe below)
• Frost cookies once cooled
• Eat cookies

NOTE

Note that the cookies are not going to be perfect. They are going to be mis-shaped. They will have large finger imprints in them. They will still taste the same :) This is for the kids!

PHOTOS

Note the imperfect cookies

RECIPE: SUGAR COOKIES
I got this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book .

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (I sometimes change this to another flavoring...like almond. I love almond)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Beat butter on medium speed for about 30 seconds
2. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt
3. Beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally
4. Add flour. Finish by hand if it gets too thick for mixer
5. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes or until it is easy to handle
6. Divide in half
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick
8. Cut using cookie cutters
9. Place on cookie sheet one inch apart
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes (until edges are firm)
11. Cool
12. Ice if desired

RECIPE: FROSTING
I got this recipe from a neighbor. It is delicious. I half the recipe when I use it with the sugar cookie recipe above. Take note that this is a frosting recipe, not a icing or glaze. I use this because I love it. If you want an icing or glaze, do not use this recipe.

• 1 cube margarine or butter softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 caps full of flavoring of your choice. If you put a flavor in the cookies other than vanilla, you might want to just do vanilla in the frosting. I find vanilla might need a bit more than two caps full
• Coloring (if desired)

1. Mix together ingredients with beaters
2. If too dry, add milk or water (I add water)

NOTE ON COLORS
If you add coloring to the frosting, it helps your child with colors. For the older child, you can mix two colors together to make a new color (like red and yellow to make orange).

EXTENSIONS
You can do this with any holiday. You can also cut out letters for teaching letters or shapes for teaching shapes.