Christmas Cookies For The Family

When it comes to Christmas there are many things I love. I love the music, putting up the tree, and exchanging presents; but the thing I love the most is having the family come together to decorate Christmas cookies. Every year my siblings and I bake way too many sugar cookies and spend hours with red and green frosting all over our hands trying to decorate them all. We always have such a blast when we do this and that is why it has become tradition in our household. It’s just a really great way to spend time together, especially since my brother got married last year and we don’t see him as often. So now he brings his wife with and we have even more fun.

So if you want to help bring your family together this Christmas, why not try decorating cookies?

Here’s the recipe we use for the cookies and frosting:

 

Cookies:

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

2 eggs

11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high spend until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture, and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Divide dough in half, pat into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Generously flour a clean work surface. Gently roll chilled dough about ¼-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters, working quickly enough so the dough remains chilled. If the dough gets too soft, refrigerate on a lined baking sheet until firm again, about 30 minutes. Transfer cut cookies to un-greased baking sheets, leaving about 1-inch between cookies. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325° F. Bake the cookies until the bottoms are golden, about 12-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool.

Now it’s time to decorate!

Frosting:

Ingredients:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Food coloring

Directions:

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Separate your frosting in equal amounts into the same number of bowls for the same amount of colors you intend to have. For example, if you are planning to do 5 colors separate your frosting into 5 bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring into each bowl and mix until you get your desired colors.

 

Then use that frosting to decorate your cookies however you want and enjoy the time you spend with your family!