Here’s the third recipe that’s being using for my food gifts. There’s a few variations to my sugar cookies this year, but when I got to the dog bones I decided they deserved a post all to themselves (just agree with me).
I’m choosing not to use frosting this year on any of the cookies in an effort to keep things simple. I make a lot and when it goes to storing them before giving the cookies stick together. I’ve tried the glaze recipes but haven’t mastered it yet. So, to avoid all of that I explored other options for decorating the cookies.
Last week I visited my favorite shop in the whole wide world (seriously), The Calico Bean Market. I shop there for several reasons. Their seasonings are fresh, I find extra oddities that the supermarket doesn’t carry, they make fresh peanut butter while you shop, they sell the best cookie cutter shapes, and most of all, they are LOCAL!
To use a dog bone cookie cutter may not be very Christmas like, but I don’t care. I use it every year no matter what holiday it is. I guess you could say it’s very Jennifer like.
Before I forget, here’s the recipe. Another one that my Mom passed along to me.
Sugar Cookies:
Ingredients:
1 C. margarine
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp. of vanilla
1/2 tsp. of almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
Oven at 375 degrees. Baking time? Couldn’t tell ya. Just watch them close. Depending on the size of the cookie cutter and depth of your dough baking times will vary. The dog bone cookie cutter that I used is two inches long and one inch wide. They took roughly five minutes.
Supplies:
Cookies cutters of choice
Rolling pin
Extra flour along with some in a bowl
Baking sheets (I like using the air bake ones)
Parchment Paper (optional, but it works great)
Cooling rack
Decorations for cookies (your choice). With these I used vanilla almond bark and mini chocolate chips
Instructions:
Cream together the margarine and powdered sugar. Add the vanilla, almond extract, and egg. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Sift the dry ingredients into the cream mixture. This is the part where you can now take a break to lick the beaters. Cover the bowl with an airtight lid or transfer the dough into another container with a lid. Refrigerate for a couple of hours until the dough sets enough that you can roll it out. I made the dough the night before I rolled them out. That works fine. I use my Lock n’ Lock containers to ensure their freshness.
When your ready to roll out your cookies make sure you put a nice amount of flour on the counter to prevent it from sticking. *Bakers tip* I found that dipping the cookie cutter in a bowl of flour each time prevented any dough from sticking to it. I’ve heard of people spraying them with cooking spray, but this worked fine for me.
I may of went a bit crazy on the flour, because as you can see once they were ready to go into the oven I had plenty still on the cookies. What I did was took the corner of a paper towel, slightly wet it, and dabbed those cookies with the most flour on them. I wonder if using a pastry brush dipped in water would also work? I’ll have to try that next time.
At first I wasn’t sure how I wanted to decorate them. Then I came up with the vanilla almond bark and mini chips combination.
I’m most pleased with how they turned out. How do they taste? I’m not sure. Haven’t tried them yet. Being in the kitchen for three straight hours on my feet rolling out endless shapes of cookies had me pretty much sick of looking at them. No worries though. I had fun making them and have decided to make another batch of dog bones. Three hours wasn’t enough time, right? For the next batch I’ll use chocolate almond bark with semi sweet micro baking bits.
I did other cut outs at the same time. Those will be passed along in part two later this week.
In case you missed the other two recipes I shared click here and here. Today I completed another DIY project pertaining to recipes. The project was for myself, but it would also make a simple and inexpensive gift for someone who loves to cook/bake.
Until the next word…
~Jennifer
