Sweet Sugar Cookies

Once again, I cant completely take credit for these. The recipe is from my Mom, who got them from a friend. They are very yummy and fun to decorate for any occasion!!!

1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter, shortening, cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients a little bit at a time. Chill dough in refrigerator for one hour. Roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/4" thickness (or however thick you desire). Punch out cookies in desired shape and place onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes.

Then the fun part....decorating!!!

I wanted to make some Easter Egg cookies to send back home to our families, so here is what I did:

I didn't want to buy an egg cookie cutter, so I improvised with a kitchen knife. In turn they ended up looking sort of rustic, but I like that about them.

Next, I made buttercream frosting for a border around the outside of each cookie.

1 stick butter softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 cups powdered sugar (to desired consistency)

milk (if you need to thin it back out at any point)

Combine all ingredient in large bowl with an electric mixer until desired consistency is achieved. 

I took out 1/3 of the white frosting and put it into a pastry bag fitted with a thin point tip. Then I made a small outline of buttercream frosting around the border of each cookie. [This will ensure that when I fill the cookie with icing it wont run over the edges].

Next, I made the icing to fill each cookie.

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp almond extract

Mix all ingredient together in a small bowl with a whisk until silky, about honey consistency.

 I used a kitchen spoon and poured icing into the center of each cookie until covered. For the eggs I used half white icing, and then I mixed in a little bit a green to make a very light green color to finish out the remaining eggs.

And finally I took the remaining buttercream and separated it out into two separate bowls. I made one blue and one green. I used the white, blue and green to decorate my Easter eggs with polka dots, crosses, and other egg designs.

Later in the week I made some for the flight room. Cowboy boots. (as manly as possible)

And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here."

Matthew 17:4