It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Cookies!

This is the time of year when many of us are making cut-out cookies to decorate with the kids.  For some, it is the only time of year for baking cut-out cookies.  I thought I'd share with you my Grandma's (Helen Carpenter) recipe and a few tips I've learned over the years. 

I remember when Grandma shared this recipe: my daughter was in pre-school and I had promised to bake cookies for the class to decorate.  I couldn't find a recipe I liked as much as Grandma's.  Still, Grandma didn't part with her favored recipes easily so I knew I might not be successful.  I called her up (I can still hear her voice during this conversation even though she's been gone for years) and told her my predicament and she agreed to share the recipe!!!  I also remember Grandma calling me back after a few minutes and telling me that she had forgotten to share her secret ingredient - but wanted me to know about it.  Don't worry, I won't leave the secret ingredient out, because I know you will keep the secret.

What you need:
3/4 cup butter (use real butter!)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind* SECRET
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Putting it together:
Cream the softened butter and sugar before adding vanilla, eggs and lemon zest.  Sift dry ingredients together and add in small quantities.  This will make a fairly stiff dough. 

Divide the dough into 2-3 parts, wrapping each in wax paper.  Chill dough at least 2 hours but overnight is best. 

Roll out 1/8th inch thick on lightly floured surface.  Cut out your favorite shapes with cutters.  Bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes (or less).  Just until the edges begin to turn lightly golden. 
My tips:
Don't skip the chilling of the dough.  Remove only the dough you plan to use at that moment.  You may need to break the chilled dough into smaller sizes for rolling.  Work in SMALL batches!  You want to avoid re-rolling the dough numerous times.  The more you roll, the warmer the dough, the more flour you need to keep the warm dough from sticking, the tougher the cookies...  Did I mention that you need to work in small quantities? 

Roll out your cookies a little on the thick (1/8 to 1/4 inch) side to keep them intact when the kids begin decorating. 

Use a lightly floured rolling pin.  Work from the center of the dough towards to edges.  Don't worry about what shape you make when rolling out the cookie dough.  Do aim for a consistent thickness across the dough, each time you roll out the dough.  This will help keep a consistent baking time, even when you have cookies from a couple different roll-outs on the same sheet - because we are working in small batches, right?

When using all those wonderful cookie cutters, cut out all of one design at the same time.  Bake only one design per cookie sheet so that your baking time is the same.  When you mix your designs to include large and small designs on one cookie sheet, your baking time will vary per design! 

Having trouble getting the cut dough off the cutting mat?  Pull the non-cut dough away for another batch and work with the point of a table knife to lift up a starting corner for lifting.  Dip your cutters in flour, especially if it has a lot of detailed nooks and crannies. 

Only place cut-out dough on a cool cookie sheet.    

Don't overbake.  Rely on look rather than time.  Somewhere around 8 mintues, begin looking at the back of the tray in the oven for a hint of a golden edge.  Your cookies will continue to darken and bake after removal from the oven, due to retained heat.  All over dark gold is over-done, making a crisp cookie which breaks fairly easily.

Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Use a spatula with a good, sharp edge to remove cookies off the cookie sheet. 

Decorate only completely cooled cookies.  If possible, wait a day before decorating the cookies.  Don't cover the cookies but allow them to air cool for better stability. 

When the kids are in charge of decorating, use canned white icing.  Encourage a moderate amount of icing per cookie.  Add color with sugar and other fun sprinkles.  Not using food coloring will save you amazing amounts of time in clean-up.  Don't hover over the kids when they decorate.  They have a great since of imagination and creativity which translates into great pride when they see a loved one enjoy their cookie.  Use plastic knives to spread the icing and jelly roll pans (with sides) as decorating trays.  They will catch most of the run-away decorations.  If you find that you are running low on sprinkles, empty the catch trays into a dish and funnel back into the shakers.  Discourage finger-licking by having wet paper towels for each decorator.  Set a time, every 30 minutes or so, for the kids to select a cookie to eat.  The cookies above were decorated by the kids at FUMC, Anahuac to share with friends and family.

Place decorated cookies in single layers on baking sheets and try to let them sit, uncovered, overnight.  This helps the icing set so that when layered in a gift box, they won't smoosh.

Think outside the box.  I turned my mini-muffin pan upside down and placed my flower dough cut outs on every other cup.  After they baked and cooled, I filled them with a scant tablespoon of homemade lemon curd (recipe in an upcoming blog). Oh yum! These were intended for a Christmas party but may not last that long.   

I love baking, especially around the holidays.  This is my newest decoration - a baking Christmas tree for my kitchen.  The 'gingerbread' is actually a piece of fabric I knitted then felted and cut in shapes using my cookie cutters as an outline.  Merry Christmas!