My Famous Sugar Cookies

Nothing says "I love you," like a homemade treat.
Surprise the ones you love this Valentine's Day with some yummy
homemade sugar cookies!


Of all the treats I have baked up in
my 25 years as a wife and mom,
these cookies are by far the most requested
and most highly praised.

They're soft, and tasty,
and... Oh, so pretty!

I also think they are great fun to make.
I think you'll like making them too.

Enough prelude...
let's get started!


Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

For the frosting I always use the pre-made stuff as pictured here.
It tastes tons better than homemade.
And buying sprinkles and other candy toppings is always fun to do.
But don't buy red hots in the cake decorating aisle.
You'll find them cheaper in the candy aisle.

First, cream together the softened butter
(or margarine - I've used both)
and the powdered sugar.

Next, add the vanilla, almond extract and egg.

Then add the dry ingredients.

You don't want your dough to be
too dry and crumbly. But
you don't want it to be too sticky either.

If it's too sticky, you can either add a little more flour,
or refrigerate it for a few hours.

If your dough is too dry, there's not a lot you can do,
so be careful!

Next, we roll out the dough on a floured surface,
to about 3/16 inch thickness.

This is always my favorite part.

Warning: Do not give in to the
temptation to eat the scraps of
unused dough. Once you start
you won't be able to stop, and
it's not good for you.
(Do as I say.
Not as I do.)

Next, we cut out the cookies into our desired shapes,
e.g. hearts for Valentine's Day, eggs for Easter,
apples for Back-to-school,
(I have an extensive cookie cutter collection.)
and place them on cookie sheets.

Then bake them in a 375 - degree oven
for 7-8 minutes. That's what Betty Crocker says.
But you have to keep an eye on them.
The big ones take longer than the smaller ones.

You want them to come out just slightly
brown around the edges, and lightly brown underneath.

Once they've cooled
(or a day or two later - you can store them
in the refrigerator or even freeze
them if you don't want to do this next part right away.)
it's time to frost them.

As I said before, I prefer to buy my frosting.
I would even go so far as to say
the "secret" to my cookies is the
store-bought frosting. I guess what I am saying is
if you make these cookies, and then frost them
with homemade frosting, do not expect
to get the rave reviews like I always do.

'Nuf said.

Once you've covered the cookie in a "healthy" layer
of frosting, you can then add the candy sprinkles.

There are 3 ways of doing this.

1) the dunk method

2) The sprinkle method

3) and the hand-placing method, not pictured here
as I didn't have the time to fuss with placing each
little candy just where I wanted it.

And that's it!

Want to try one?
You can.

Either whip up your own batch,
or come to MVL Tuesday night
and stop by the Concession Stand.
They'll be for sale there for 50¢ each.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

P.S. Betty Crocker says this recipe yields 5 dozen cookies. I usually only get 3 - 4 dozen from a single batch. Not sure why. Maybe Betty uses smaller cookie cutters. Or perhaps she has more will-power than I do when it comes to those yummy scraps of dough. ( ;