Sugar Cookies

Can you guess which cookies I frosted and
which ones my kids frosted? lol

Growing up I have always loved to bake. I've made many different sugar cookie recipes but they have always turned out the same way, hard and crunchy. When I discovered the large soft sugar cookies that can be bought by the dozen at the store I pretty much decided that I was done making sugar cookies. Even though they are a blast to make and decorate I am not a big fan of crunchy cookies. I love my cookies to be soft and chewy. This week I have decided that I was going to start doing more baking and teach my children how to bake at the same time. My daughter decided sugar cookies would be our first project. I looked through my recipes, and found a recipe that I had added to my recipe book on allrecipe.com. Here is the link to the recipe. I read through the reviews and saw that all the reviews were very positive so I decided to go ahead and attempt this recipe. The results were fantastic!!! The cookies were so soft and chewy. The original recipe did have a buttercream frosting recipe to make but I already had some store-bought frosting and decided to use it. I do plan on using the buttercream recipe at a later date and I will let you all know how it went. For those that do not want to click the link, here is the recipe. Oh, and even though the recipe says it makes 5 dozen cookies, I only got about 2-3 dozen cookies. I'm not sure if my cookies were cut too large or thick but I just wanted to let you all know.

***Note*** I made the buttercream frosting from the recipe today and it turned out really well. The only change I made from the recipe was using the butter flavored crisco over the regular shortening and adding butter flavor. I think it was a huge hit.

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Rated: Submitted By: Diane Photo By: CookieDough Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 5 Minutes Ready In: 2 Hours 20 Minutes Servings: 60

"These cookies are melt-in-your-mouth delicious. They are simple to make and kids love to lick the frosting off the tops. Butter flavoring is in the buttercream for added flavor. You can find it in most supermarkets, in the baking aisle, where there are other flavorings such as vanilla."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening 1 pound confectioners' sugar 5 tablespoons water 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon butter flavored extract

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended using a sturdy spoon. Chill dough for 2 hours.
2.	Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake for 4 to 6 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove cookies from pan and cool on wire racks.
4.	Using an electric mixer, beat shortening, confectioners sugar, water, salt, vanilla extract, and butter flavoring until fluffy. Frost cookies after they have cooled completely.