Mommy of One: Rainy Day Fun

October is a particularly rainy month in our neck of the woods so being able to play outside is hard to come by. It's been raining here for the past few days and my daughter, J, has been getting a little restless. J is now at the age where she wants to help mommy in the kitchen but is still to young to actually do so. Frosting sugar cookies is a great way to include small toddlers.

I got this recipe from a friend of my grandmother's and it has been my favorite for almost 10 years. They are soft the way sugar cookies should be. Sugar cookies are always time consuming but totally worth it once they are finished. I love to make them for all seasons with fun cookie cutters.

I planned ahead for this because the sugar cookie recipe that I have needs to sit in the refrigerator overnight. The recipe also requires the butter to be soft. The easiest (longest) way is to let it sit out on the counter overnight.I have used the soften setting on my microwave which works in a pinch but it does melt the butter a tad but in the process. At the same time that I pull out the butter for the dough, I pull out a stick for the frosting. This needs to be soft as well.

It's up to you how you want to mix the dough but I've done it with a hand mixer and my Kitchen Aid mixer. I find that my Kitchen Aid mixer works a little better because the dough is pretty stiff due to the amount of flour and my Kitchen Aid seems to have more power to the mix the dough. When using a hand mixer you have to be careful of the dough twisting up the beaters and getting into the mixer itself. Make sure to occasionally stop mixing and push the rising dough back into the bowl.

To start, cream the softened butter and sugar together. Once creamy, add the eggs and mix well. Next you'll add the sour cream, vanilla (I sometimes use clear vanilla), salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix these ingredients well. After that, mix in the flour ~ for easier mixing add the flour 1 cup at a time.

Once all the ingredients are mixed together cover bowl and stick it in the refrigerator over night ~ you don't have to let it sit overnight but I like to make sure it's nice and cold so it rolls out easier. A few hours would be fine if you don't have the time to wait overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degree. After the dough has cooled, pull out a handful and return the bowl to the refrigerator. Roll the dough to 1/4 in. thick on a well floured counter or bread board with a well floured rolling pin. Again the dough will be fairly sticky especially once it has warmed up a bit from being rolled out. Use whatever cookie cutters you please. Today we made Halloween cookies!

Before baked in the oven

I like to use a air bake cookie sheets because they tend to bake more evenly but any type of cookie sheet will do. Space the cut outs a little bit apart; they do puff up a bit while baking. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for 10-12 min. I start off with less minutes and work my way up. DON'T bake the cookies until they are browned, they will get crunchy this way. I tend to under do my cookies a tad because I like my cookies soft and moist. Cool the cookies on a cooling rack before frosting.

After baked in the oven

Sugar Cookie's

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup (8 oz. container) sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 1/2 cups of flour

Yields 4-5 dozen cookies

Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoons clear vanilla (I would suggest using clear vanilla so that the frosting doesn't turn too cream or brownish ~ I like to keep it more white especially when I do snowman or ghost cookies)
Food Coloring

Cream everything together. One batch of this will be enough to do all the cookies so if you double to cookie recipe, double the frosting recipe. I tend to make several different shapes of cookies so I divide the frosting into different bowls so I can do different colors. We did black, orange, green, yellow and white ~ Halloween colors!