Lessons for next year: don't do it on a week night. Starting the process at 6:30 when you have two kids who go to bed by 8 puts far too much pressure on us. Time constraints can do wonders in turning a normally festive activity into a stressful sweat-inducing one. Also. Kids.
We only made two kinds this year. The good old fashioned sugar cookie was the first.
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Beat butter and sugar. Add in vanilla and egg. Add dry mixture slowly continuing to beat until smooth. Refrigerate. We did that for two hours.
Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.
And the Spritz cookies were the second. My personal favorite. Two words: Almond. Extract. We dye half of the dough red and twist into candy canes. Honestly. The best cookie.
1 1/2 cups softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond. I always add more almond. Can't have too much almond. Sift flour and baking powder and add gradually to other mixture.
Bake at 400 for 8 minutes.
Like I said we make candy canes. You could dye any color obviously. We sometimes do green and roll into balls. My mom uses her thumb to make an indent and then adds raspberry jam. Or we use a fork and do some lines. Skies the limit.
Not my best cookie making post or anything....It's difficult to take photos when the pressure is on. It was a race to the finish. Normalle.
Merry Christmas Eve!!
