Christmas Cookies

In my job as a Manager Assistant, I support 6 very busy consulting managers. I never know what to give them for Christmas because they can buy themselves anything they want!! I decided to bake them each a batch of Christmas cookies this year and although I wouldn't call them professional looking (or even close!), they are definitely cute and full of Christmas cheer. I did the best I could using the only Christmas themed sprinkles and icing tubes I could find at Shaws! (There wasn't much to choose from...)

Here is the recipe I used to make the Christmas cookies.. I doubled the cookie recipe to make enough cookies to give to 6 people, but the frosting recipe did not need to be doubled to cover all the cookies!

Sugar Cookies
adapted from Our Best Bites

For the cookies...

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large or extra large egg
• 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy - about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined.
4. Immediately roll dough out between two sheets of parchment paper and then place on a flat surface in the fridge. Chill for about a half hour.
5. Lightly sprinkle flour on your counter top and roll the dough out with a rolling pin. Using your Christmas cookie cutters, cut out as many shapes as you can!
6. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes for a nice soft sugar cookie. If you want the cookies to be crispier, bake for 10-12 minutes.

For the icing...

• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons whole milk
• 6 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth with no lumps. Then stir in corn syrup and vanilla extract.

Some helpful tips...

• make sure you let the icing harden completely before trying to decorate your cookies. I didn't do that because I was rushing and I ended up with droopy faces on my snowmen and gingerbread men. :(
• let the icing and decorations set before you put your cookies in their containers or packaging. This will keep them from rubbing off onto each other.
• use icing to outline your cookies! it makes them look more vibrant :) I didn't have outlines on any of them at first but when I started to outline the edges, they started to look much cuter.

Even though they look a little childish, they tasted fantastic and my managers were all very surprised to receive them today!! They really do make a great gift.