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. ( ;

Fall Check List

Autumn is officially here. Time to get out your fall check list. Don’t have a fall check list? That’s okay. You can use mine.

1. Rake leaves into a pile

2. Jump in leaves

3. Repeat

4. Bake something with "tart apples thinly sliced" in the list of ingredients

5. Bake something with "Pumkin" in the title

6. Treat yourself to some Brach’s Candy Corn and/or Kraft Caramels

7. Get out the box labeled "WINTER CLOTHES" from the store room

8. Lovingly remove each sweater, turtle neck, and Cuddl Dud™ from the box

9. Refill the box with shorts and tank tops

10. Cross the word "WINTER" off the box, and scribble "SUMMER" below it

11. Return it to the storeroom

12. Keep your calendar handy and update as needed with joyfully anticipated concerts, retreats, Holiday parties, and family gatherings. (They'll be here before you know it!)

To help you with number 5, here's a little recipe I like that's fun and easy to make. I found it in a Weight Watcher's Cookbook, so it's not all that bad for you either. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Crescent Rolls

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Baking Time: 9 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

3 tablespoons cooking oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.

2. In a small mixing bowl combine pumpkin, oil, and brown sugar. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring with a fork until combined. Form into a ball.

3. Line a large baking sheet with foil. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough gently for 10 to 12 stokes. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a 10-inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Starting at the wide end of each wedge, loosely roll toward the point. Place, point side down, about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Curve ends of rolls slightly.

4. Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over crescents. Bake in a 400° oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 16 rolls.

Popcorn

Back in my youth, as a student at New Prague Elementary School, I was introduced to a delightful story by Ruth Adams.
It’s entitled “Mr. Picklepaw’s Popcorn.”

In the story Mr. Picklepaw grows a field of popcorn.

He picks it, and stores it in his shed. But one unseasonably warm day, Mr. Picklepaw fears for his crop. He climbs up onto the roof of the shed with a garden hose to try and cool it down.

Just then, the popcorn begins popping and Mr. Picklepaw rises into the air on a growing mountain of popped popcorn!

A helicopter is called to the rescue. Mr. Picklepaw is saved. And all the townspeople enjoy popcorn for a week.

We eat a lot of popcorn at this house. Most often, I make it in my air popper, and then top it with either melted butter and salt, or olive oil and popcorn seasoning. But we also like these two recipes very much:

Kettle Corn

½ cup unpopped popcorn

¼ cup oil

¼ cup sugar

½ - 1 tsp. salt

For this recipe you’ll need a large kettle with a lid and pot holders (or a hand crank popcorn popper). Heat the popcorn and the oil in the kettle over medium heat. When it starts to sizzle, add the sugar. Put the lid on your kettle. Keep the popcorn moving constantly by giving your pot vigorous shakes every few seconds. When the popping slows or stops remove the kettle from the stove, pour the popcorn into a large bowl, and sprinkle with salt.

Caramel Corn

15 cups popped popcorn (about 1 ice cream bucket-fulL)

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup butter or margarine

¼ cup light corn syrup

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

Divide popcorn between 2 ungreased cookie sheets. Cook brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges. Continue cooking 5 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in baking soda until foamy. Pour over popcorn, stirring until corn is well coated. Bake, uncovered, in 200° oven, for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Makes 15 servings (about 1 cup each).

Give them a try!

And for more recipes, games, and popcorn fun visit: www.popcorn.org

Happy National Popcorn Month!