Sugar Cookies
A Christmas Classic
My mother always baked multiple types of cookies for Christmas despite teaching full-time. She would start baking in November and freeze the cookies. She relied on Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book first published in 1963. The recipes are easy to follow, contain ingredients that most people have on hand, and the resulting cookies rarely disappoint. The recipe published here is (almost) exactly as it appears in the book. The frosting, however, is a simple, standard buttercream that we made so frequently that we no longer had to measure out the ingredients. We simply started with softened butter and mixed in confectioner’s sugar, a touch of vanilla and milk until the right consistency was achieved. I got out the measuring cups and spoons so that I could post a more exact version here. We would always mix in a tiny amount of food coloring, but I decided to try and add color with the juice from raspberries. I wasn’t confident that I would be successful, but was pleasantly surprised by the lovely color achieved. An added bonus was that the frosting tastes like raspberries.
Ethel’s Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t. baking powder
1t. salt
Directions
Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to butter mixture and blend. Chill at least one hour.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough 1/8” thick on lightly floured board. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Frosting
Ingredients
4 oz. butter softened to room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1/4 cup juice from frozen raspberries
milk as needed
Directions
Defrost the raspberries. Take 1/4 cup of the juice that has been produced as the berries thaw . Place the juice in a saucepan and simmer until the liquid has been reduced to about a teaspoon. I microwaved the butter for about 10 seconds, since our kitchen is pretty chilly in December and the butter was not soft enough. Add all the ingredients, other than the milk, to the butter. Cream everything together. If the frosting seems too thick to spread or pipe through a pastry bag, add a touch of milk. You really can’t wrong with sugar and butter. If you wind up adding too much milk, just add a bit more sugar.
I no longer own a cake decorator, so I used a lightweight plastic bottle that you might find holding ketchup or mustard at some roadside stand. This recipe does not make a great quantity of frosting, but you can always double it.
Merry Christmas!
