Iced Pumpkin Cookies

 These are REALLY yummy!

If you want the best pumpkin cookies you have ever had, try this recipe. 

The trick is to not over stir the wet ingredients with the dry.  

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 5 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1  teaspoon ground cloves

• 1  teaspoon salt

• 3 cups white sugar

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 2 cups canned pumpkin puree

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 package of chocolate chips

Icing:

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar

• 6 tablespoons milk

• ½ cup melted butter

• 2  teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• 
  

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

• 
  

• Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves,

• and salt in a bowl. Mix until well combined. Set aside.

• 
  

• Cream together sugar and butter in a mixing bowl until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

• Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla; beat until creamy. 

       Carefully fold wet and dry ingredients without over stirring.  Add chocolate chips.

• 
  

• Spoon dough onto the prepared cookie sheets.

• Bake in the preheated oven until centers are set, about 15 minutes. 

• Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.  Drizzle icing over cooled cookies.

Brittany's Royal Frosting for Cookie Decorating

Brittany said: "This royal glaze icing is what I use for all my sugar cookies now. It is shiny and pretty but it dries faster. And it’s not hard like royal icing it still tastes yummy. My new favorite icing for pretty sugar cookies."

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE.

Melissa's favorite chocolate chip cookies

https://happymoneysaver.com/the-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-my-dreams-are-made-of/

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 3/4 tsp salt 
• 1 1/4 cups real unsalted butter 
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar 
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar 2 large eggs 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 oz bag of Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips or other quality chocolate chips, 11.5 . 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix to combine and set aside. Using paddle attachment on mixer, cream butter and sugars together just until blended. Add eggs, one a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Put mixer on low speed, and add in dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Stir in chocolate chips by hand gently. It's best to make bigger cookies for the right texture - so I would recommend using 4 Tablespoon size scoop to form your cookies. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes. I like mine to look a little undercooked in the middle, then let them finish cooking on the cookie sheet for a few minutes while they cool. Then move them to a cookie rack or plate to keep cooling. If you are freezing these cookies: Form into balls, and freeze on a cookie sheet. After frozen remove and add to a ziploc freezer bag. They will last for about a month in the freezer. To bake just take out and bake as directed, adding a few extra minutes of baking time.

Notes from Brittany: This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe that Melissa found. I cook mine for 14 mins and they turned out perfect. I also used salted butter and did not add any salt to the recipe. 

White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies

Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients 

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 2 tsp ground ginger 
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves 
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter , softened 
• 1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp granulated sugar , divided 
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 1/4 cup molasses 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 3 cups white chocolate chips 
• 3 Tbsp shortening 
• Red and green candy melts (or tinted royal icing) (optional) 

Instructions 

In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg for 20 seconds, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar until well blended. Mix in egg, then blend in molasses and vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees during last 10 minutes of chilling. Scoop dough out about 1 1/2 Tbsp at a time, shape into balls then roll in remaining 3 Tbsp granulated sugar. Transfer to Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart (keep dough chilled that is not currently baking), flatten tops just slightly (to evenly level).

Bake in preheated oven 8 - 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt 1 cup white chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp shortening at a time in microwave on HIGH power in 10 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until melted, smooth and fairly runny (I did batches of it because it will cool as your dipping, plus its easy to burn so you don't want to work with too much of it at a time. Then once you've used it up melt more, you may not need all 3 cups). Dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate mixture then run bottom of cookie slightly along edge of bowl to remove excess, then return to Silpat or parchment paper to set at room temperature.

If doing the holly decoration, melt candy melts according to directions on package (I worked in small batches because it sets quickly, maybe 9 chips at a time, plus you won't need much). Pour into a piping bags fitted with a #4 tip and pipe decorations. Allow to set a room temperature.

Swig Sugar Cookie Link

Melissa likes this Swig Sugar Cookie Copycat Recipe found HERE.

(She specifically asks on her site not to copy her recipe and post anywhere else, so I've just linked it above.)

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

Melissa shared this fantastic recipe with all of us. She says they are a bit more work, but worth the effort! Click HERE for the full recipe!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies II

We made these cookies to remember dad's birthday this past weekend. I know we already had a recipe for this on the blog, but I have been wanting a softer, less crumbly peanut butter cookie recipe. This is my new favorite recipe for these cookies!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar, or as needed
• 2 (12 ounce) bags Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

Beat peanut butter, shortening, 2/3 cup white sugar, brown sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until creamy and smooth.

Spoon flour into measuring cup (don't scoop - it adds too much flour). Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. ( I don't sift, I just mixed well.)

Gradually fold flour mixture into peanut butter mixture to form a smooth dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour 1/4 cup white sugar into a shallow bowl. Scoop dough into 1-inch balls, roll balls in sugar, and place 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. Open the oven door and press a chocolate kiss about halfway down in the center of each cookie. Bake for until chocolate begins to melt and lose form, about another 2 minutes. Cool on wire racks until chocolate hardens, at least 3 hours.

A few notes:

Refrigerating the dough at least 1 hour is not strictly necessary, but I recommend it because it makes the dough easier to work with when shaping balls and also helps retain the shape when baking and avoid too much cracking when adding kisses.

Prep kisses by unwrapping foils and lining them upright on a plate or cookie sheet for easy transfer to cookie dough. Baking dough too long before adding kisses can cause kisses to fall out of the cookie dough when cooled. Kisses need to bake long enough to adhere to the cookie base but not to the point that they lose shape. Do not over bake!

Stacking cookies before chocolate has fully cooled and hardened will cause them to squish and loose shape. If desired, freeze immediately when cooled. I've kept them up to 2 months and they taste as fresh as the day they were baked.

Chocolate Chip Cookie PIE

Because pie is awesome, no matter the time of year...

Because this is one of the BEST pies I've ever tried...

Because Sunday afternoons are a great time to bake a new treat...

Let me share with you this delicious recipe!

 

This is a recipe that I've tasted from my friend Tiffany before and she shared with me.  It is an Our best Bites recipe. :)  The photo is from ourbestbites.com. 

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust, homemade or store-bought.
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 C white granulated sugar
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 3/4 C real butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 C chocolate chips (semi sweet or dark works best, you might find milk too sweet)
• 1C chopped pecans (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream, or sweetened whipped cream for serving (A must!)
• Optional: chocolate sauce 

Preheat oven to 325 F. Beat eggs in a large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack or serve slightly warmed. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Crispies

I am always on the lookout for delicious, easy, interesting, different cookies.  I make cookies pretty often and get tired of the same old recipes all the time.  Today I tried Pioneer Woman's Oatmeal Crispies, and I. AM. IN. LOVE.  These are going right up there in the regular rotation of favorites!  Seriously, the Pioneer Woman has never failed me yet . . .



Ingredients

• 1 cup Shortening (Crisco) 
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar 
• 1 cup Sugar 
• 2 whole Eggs 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla 
• 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour 
• 1 teaspoon Salt 
•  1 teaspoon Baking Soda 
• 3 cups Quick Oats 
•  ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans 

Preparation Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening with both sugars until well combined. In a separate bowl, beat eggs together. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Add to the shortening/sugar mixture and mix well. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix carefully into the egg/shortening mixture until well combined. Now add the quick oats and mix well again. Finally add the finely chopped pecans and mix well to combine.

Now the original instructions say this: Divide the dough in half and place each half of the dough onto a sheet of waxed paper. Roll the dough into a log and then wrap it tightly in the waxed paper. Now you can either chill or freeze the dough until later or you can go ahead and slice the dough evenly into cookie rounds. When you are ready to bake them place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

Jennifer's changes: I divided the dough evenly into four parts, and rolled up each section into a log.  I got 12 cookies out of each roll.  I froze three of the logs so that I can pull them out, cut, and bake at a later time.  The fourth one I cut immediately into 12 equal parts, placed on a cookie sheet and baked for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  I suggest you eat one warm, with milk.  Or two...  ;)

AWESOME!    

Lemon or Orange Sugar Tea Cookies

I was making cookies for some friends recently, and wanted to do something a little different than my usual standbys.  I went in search of a new cookie recipe, and ended up finding this one on allrecipes.com. 


I loved how these turned out.  These were just the right amount of crunchy and soft and had a very nice, light flavor!  My friends loved them as well.



Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup 
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract (I didn't have lemon extract, so I substituted orange extract.  You could probably try any kind of extract here.  The orange was delicious.)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 cup white sugar 

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, corn syrup, and lemon extract. Stir in flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Cover dough, and chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Roll chilled dough into walnut sized balls. Roll balls in remaining sugar, and place on the prepared cookie sheet.

3. Bake 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.

Gingerbread Men

I've never really found a gingerbread man recipe that I liked until last year. This recipe is from a woman in my ward in Denver, and it's wonderful. I made these cookies again tonight for my piano recital tomorrow.  The cookies are really easy to make, and I love the butterscotch pudding in here. The cookies come out very sweet and delicious and just the right amount of crunchy. Lovely! Katelee and I had a great time making these, and I was surprised at how quickly they went. Try them!

• 3/4 c. butter, softened 
• 3/4 c. brown sugar 
• 1, 4 oz. package of instant Jell-O butterscotch pudding 
• 1 egg 
• 2 c. flour 
• 1 tsp. baking soda 
• 1 T. ground ginger 
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter, brown sugar, pudding mix, and egg together. (Don't make the pudding, just pour the powder in.) Then gradually add the rest of the ingredients. Roll out on a clean countertop (no flour needed! That's my favorite part!) and cut into gingerbread men shapes or whatever shapes you want. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart, and bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven. (I baked mine for 10 minutes in Denver, and 8 1/2 minutes in Utah.  As soon as the edges looked done, I whipped them out so they didn't get too crispy.)  Cool. Frost, if desired, or serve plain. Delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookie FROSTING

I am planning a Cookie Monster cake for Blake's upcoming birthday.  I wanted to do something a little different with the frosting, something cookie-related.  So, I made up this frosting recipe.  We tried it today on cupcakes, and oh my it was delicious!  I will make this again; it's definitely a fun twist on plain ol' frosting.

• 1/2 c. butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 3 - 4 T. milk, or until the right texture
• 1/2 tsp. butter vanilla gel (this is super yummy flavoring I buy at my local cake supply store.  However, an acceptable substitute would be 1 tsp. vanilla extract, or 1/2 tsp. vanilla + 1/2 tsp. butter extract.)
• 2 - 3 chocolate chip cookies (mine were soft and warm from the oven and so crumbled into the frosting really easily.)

Cream the butter and shortening together.  Stir in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  When it looks like frosting, dump in the chocolate chip cookies and mix well until no large pieces are left.  Frost on your cake or cupcake (or just eat by the spoonful if you're like Katelee :) and enjoy!

P.S. How adorable are these teeny tiny chocolate chip cookies?  I made them mostly for Blake's cookie monster cake - it's gonna be so cute!  :)

Grandma Klingler's Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 C butter 
• 2 C Brown sugar 
• 2 C White sugar 
• 4 eggs 

Cream all together

• 2 tsp baking soda 
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 2 tsp vanilla 

Mix well into sugar mixture. Then stir in:

• 5 to 6 cups of flour, until right consistency for cookie dough. 
• Chocolate chips and nuts 

Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet. Bake for 11 min. at 350 degrees.

Chocolate rolo cookies

These cookies are so good and easy to make!  One of Jd's Aunts made them for Jake's wedding and we all had to have the recipe.  I think they would be cute at Christmas with green and red frosting drizzled on the top
Chocolate fudge cake mix 1/3 C oil 2 eggs Rolo candies White chocolate or frosting drizzle (optional) Directions: Mix first 3 ingredients, form a very small ball of dough around a rolo candy. Spray cookie sheet with Pam. Bake at 350 for 7 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with white chocolate or frosting. Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Servings: 36

'Lil Reeses PB Cups Cookies

I'm doing some baking for my piano recital this weekend, and tried out a new dessert I saw on pinterest.  This is the picture and link to the original article where I found the recipe, but I did make some changes to the original recipe.  Below is my personal version of these yummy treats!

Source: marcussamuelsson.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Ingredients:

• 36-48 miniature peanut butter cups 
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp. baking soda 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1 cup salted butter 
• 1/2 cup white sugar 
• 1/2 cup firmly-packed brown sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 

Instructions:

Place peanut butter cups in the freezer (there’s no need to unwrap them; just place the whole bag in the freezer) for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 – 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture. Mix until a soft dough forms. Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray.  Using a spoon, scoop about a 1-inch balls into each mini muffin tin. Press dough balls into mini muffin tins, making an indentation in the middle with your thumb.(I had to dip my thumb in flour between each indentation, because the dough was soft and sticky.)  Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a miniature peanut butter cup in the center of each cookie. Cool and remove from pan. (I actually removed from the pan immediately and set them on a cooling rack to cool.)  YUM!

Heavenly Oreo Dessert!

We made this dessert last night to share with some friends, and it is sinfully delicious! You won't be disappointed if you try it!

Source: mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

                                                 

Ingredients

• 1 (15.5 oz.) package of Oreo cookies
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 2 pkg. (3.9 oz each)  Chocolate Instant Pudding
• 3 1/4 c. cold milk 
• 2 containers (8 oz. each) Cool Whip
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. powdered sugar

How You Do It

Crush all Oreo cookies in a food processor until crushed. You could also put the cookies in a large resealable bag and crush using a rolling pin.  Save 1/2 c. of the crumbs for the topping. Pour the remaining crumbs into a 9x13 dish and add the melted butter.Stir and press into the bottom of the dish to make a crust. (I used two 8x8 pans, and this worked, too.)

In a bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk. Set in the fridge for now. Blend cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar. Mix and fold in one container of Cool Whip. Spread over the crust. Add pudding and spread over the cream cheese mixture. Top with the other Cool Whip.

Sprinkle the 1/2 c. Oreo crumbs over top.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.  

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies - YUM!

I had a carrot cake mix in my pantry that was going to expire this week, so I decided to try some experimenting with it. I ended up making some cookies that my whole family really loved! If you are a carrot cake fan, then these cookies are for you! We'll want to make these again, so I wanted to write down the recipe before I forgot it:

Cookie:

• 1 (18.25-ounce) package of carrot cake mix
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional - we did some with and some without nuts - both ways were yummy!)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut flakes (optional - I made some with the coconut for Gerald, who LOVES coconut. They actually turned out really good!)
  

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper for best results. If you don't have parchment paper, just spray your cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl beat the dry cake mix, oil, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice with an electric mixer on medium speed until well-blended and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining additions you are using with a wooden spoon, just until combined. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Flatten the cookie dough balls slightly with the back of a fork or the bottom of a glass. Bake for 10 minutes, or just until the edges are set but the centers are still soft. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for few more minutes and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Stir in the cinnamon and vanilla.

When the cookies are cooled, put a generous amount of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting on the flat side of one cookie and then stick another cookie on to make a cookie sandwich - like homemade oreos. Enjoy! YUM!

Soft Molasses Cookies

Last night I had a Halloween-themed piano recital. It was so fun! For the refreshments, I baked cookies that reminded me of fall. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, toffee and butterscotch (using Darla's chocolate chip recipe and substituting the chocolate chips with toffee and butterscotch chips), and THESE amazing cookies that my friend, Sarah Burgoyne makes. I am so glad that Sarah shared this recipe with me. These cookies are soft and chewy. They are pretty. And they taste like fall or Christmas to me. They got the most compliments at the recital last night - everyone loved them and there were none left at the end of the night. ;)

¾ c. shortening
1c. packed brown sugar
1 lrg egg
1/2 c. molasses
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg

Cream sugar and shortening. Stir in egg and molasses. Fold in dry ingredients and stir. (I like to mix spices, salt and baking soda together before adding to flour.) Cover and chill for 1-2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into small balls and roll in white sugar. Place on a cookie sheet (I like to cover mine in foil- keeps cookies from getting too dark and easy clean up). Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes (I do 9 minutes). (Jenn's note: I think I made mine a bit smaller than Sarah's and so I baked them for 8 minutes. You want them soft - so be careful not to overcook!) Leave on sheet one minute to set, remove to cooling rack

A few notes from Sarah:
*I usually double the recipe.
*I tend to substitute ground cloves for the allspice, also if I am ever low on one of the spices I just try end up with the same amount of tsp of spices. I’ll up the cinnamon or ginger if I am out of nutmeg for example.

Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies

These take a little longer then the shortcut pumpkin cookies where you use the box mix, but they are well worth it. Plus it makes a lot so you can freeze them. They freeze great and are still soft when frozen. So far my favorite pumpkin cookie.

1 C. butter
3 C. sugar
2 C. canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
5 C. flour
1 bag choc. chips

Cream together butter and sugar ten add pumpkin eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Combine with wet mix well then add choc. chips. Bake at 350 for 12-14 min.

Sugar Cookies & Glaze Icing

I just finished making 200 sugar cookies for a wedding reception, and thought I would share the recipe on here for what I consider to be the best sugar cookies ever! These cookies are soft, buttery, and perfect! I got this recipe from ourbestbites.com, and have copied the following post directly from their website. (My own comments are in red.)

1 C real butter (no substitutions!)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp almond extract (you could use vanilla instead but use almond if you can - it's amazing!)
3 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy- about 2 minutes. Add in eggs and extract and mix to incorporate.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. It's important that you measure the flour properly - spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level off the top. If you scoop the flour up the amount will be different and could make the cookies dry. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined.

Shape the dough into 2 flat disks and wrap in waxed paper and place in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours. If you want your cookies to hold their shape well, the dough needs to be chilled properly. A great tip to speed things up is to immediately roll dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper and place on a flat surface in the fridge. It will chill super fast and be ready to go in no time. I highly recommend rolling the dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper. It took me a bit of practice at first, figuring out how to hold the wax paper down so it wouldn't slide while rolling, but once I got the hang of it it was fast and easy. And then when you remove the dough from the fridge, it's time to cut into cookies and bake immediately. This helps the cookies retain their shape better, because the dough is colder, and it means NO FLOURING the countertop - so much cleaner and faster!

When you're ready to roll out dough lightly sprinkle flour onto your work surface and roll out dough with a rolling pin. (Unless you followed the wax paper tip from above.)

Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. The baking time really depends on how you like them. If you like them really soft under-bake them. This is how I like them so I baked them for 8 minutes - perfection! However if you're making large cookies, or ones with small parts or heavy frosting, you might want to be careful because they might break when they're super soft.

About 8 minutes will get you a really soft cookie, a few minutes longer (when they start to just brown around the edges) and you'll get just a little crispiness around the edges and then a soft center, bake even longer (and roll thinner) and you'll get a buttery, crispy cookie that will just melt in your mouth. Any way you do it, they'll taste good. Remove onto cooling racks when you're done and let cool completely. I honestly think these even taste better the second day.

I love this delicious icing recipe because it dries hard enough that the cookies can be stacked and/or individually wrapped. On the other hand, it's not rock hard like royal frosting, so when you bite into the cookies it's still nice and soft and chewy.

Glacé Icing

1 lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 C)
6T whole milk (low-fat actually works, but use whole if you can)
6T light Corn Syrup (6T is equal to 1/4 C plus another 2 T)
1 t extract (I use almond because I use almond in my sugar cookies)

With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth (no lumps!) Then stir in corn syrup and extract.

You will use this same recipe for both glazing and piping. The way it is right now is the consistency you want for glazing. It’s smooth and thin, it easily runs off the whisk in a pretty thin drizzle.

To prepare the icing for piping, you just add more powdered sugar. Just eyeball it. You can’t really mess it up because if it’s too thick you just add more milk and if it’s too thin, you add more powdered sugar. I add it in small amounts until it’s a good consistency. For me, it’s when it gets to a point where it’s relatively hard to whisk it by hand. When I pick up the whisk, it still runs off, but in a very slow, thick stream now.

Take your glazing icing and separate it into bowls if you want to color it. I decided to do red (more pink, but I love it!), green, and blue. And I left my piping icing white. Use gel food coloring (you can find it at craft or cooking stores) for more intense colors.

There are many ways to decorate you cookies at this point. I suggest looking at the ideas on www.ourbestbites.com for inspiration, or just decorate as you wish! ENJOY!

I've also used this recipe to make cookie-pops. You can see them here. Such fun!

P.S. This cookies freeze really well! In fact, I almost like them better after being frozen!! I've even frozen them frosted, and they have worked very well.