From the Kitchen....Cute Sugar Cookies

Just a couple of cute ideas for some yummy and pretty sugar cookies, for Game Day and Every Day.

I found the ultimate cookie cutter website, Off the Beaten Path. Seriously, this online store is amazing. They have all kinds of cookie cutters from stilettos to poinsettias to states, their selection is incredible. And they're only about $1.50 a piece. So, when I was looking for a hot air balloon cookie cutter (for the St. Louis Balloon Race pre-party, of course) this site had it. And by the time you pay for shipping, I figured I might as well order every cookie cutter that I could imagine wanting in the next year at the same time. So, I also found these very cute girly ones (purse, lips, XO, sunglasses, engagement ring), football ones (football and helmet) and many others. It's very difficult to pick out just a couple.

I use a very simple recipe for the cookies and icing. I usually use homemade icing to coat the cookie and then Betty Crocker or another store bought brand for the details. I find the store icing to be thicker and easier to work with on the accents.

Sugar Cookie Recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer. Beat in the egg and vanilla. By hand, blend the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Then add the baking powder and flour mixture to your creamy mixture 1 cup at a time. Roll out the dough on a bed of flour (not included in the 3 cups) and cut out your favorite cookie! Bake 6-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. I highly recommend lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper so the cookies don't burn or stick.

Icing Recipe:
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups icing sugar

Mix all together with a mixer. Divide into small bowls and add food coloring.

To make the icing details, I also recommend using a Mechanical Pastry Bag, like this one from Williams-Sonoma. It makes it easy to control the icing and add fun details like a basketweave which I used for the basket of my hot air balloon cookies.

Girly Cookies that I made when my college roomie came to visit:


Cookies for the big OU TX football game (Go Sooners!):