Saturday, January 2, 2010

Celebrate Sweetness

Because you asked….….recipes for my sugar cookies
which would go really good with
Tea Time Tonight
Some hot tea!

Sugar Cookies

~Delicious cut-out cookies for any holiday or special occasion
~Yield approximately 30 cookies

1 ½ cups of confectioners sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Blend sugar and butter until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Blend into butter mixture.
Cover bowl and refrigerate dough 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375*. Divide dough in half. Using one half of dough, return the other half to refrigerator. Roll 3/16 inch thick on floured surface.
Cut dough with cookie cutters which the edges have been dusted in flour. Sprinkle cookie with colored sugars if you are not adding icing later.
Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes or until delicately golden. Cool completely before icing.

Sugar Cookie Icing

~This icing dries hard and shiny with bright colors.

1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup
¼ tsp. almond or lemon extract
Assorted food colorings

In a small bowl stir together confectioners sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. Warning: If you get it too thin it will run off the cookies! Divide into separate small bowls and add food colorings to each, to the desired intensity of color darkness. Paint on the cookies. Add decorating sugars for sparkle before icing dries. One making of this icing only frosts about half of the above cookie recipe, but do not double….just make another batch when one is depleted.

Be creative….these cookies are great any time you wish to use your cookie cutters, whether they are for Valentine's Day, St. Patty’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, or any other special times you feel the need to celebrate sweetness!

Photobucket



I baked them for Christmas, but Valentine's Day is just around the corner! YaY!


<----In a past post I shared this photo with you. 

It’s a Christmas Morning Caramel Roll
….prior to cooking…we got excited when it came out of the oven and did not get a photo of it cooked! Now…if you like cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, caramel, yummy gooiness, pecans or the combination of all these things…you will like love this Christmas Morning tradition from our house. You make it up on Christmas Eve and pop it into the oven on Christmas morning while you are opening and sharing gifts. After all the wrapping paper is gathered up…it should be ready. It’s a gooey goodness of joy to the palate.  Here...I'll share it with you too...

Christmas Morning Caramel Roll

1 pkg. frozen “Rhodes” dinner rolls or similar brand (these are the rolls that have to rise) *******use ONLY 22 of the rolls!

1 cup brown sugar
¼ white sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
1~ 3 oz. pkg. butterscotch dry pudding mix
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup melted butter
Caramel ice-cream topping in the squirt bottle

Mix cinnamon and both sugars together. Spray a Bundt/tube pan with Pam and then add a layer of pecans, squirt of caramel topping, some rolls, a sprinkle of the cinnamon sugar mixture, and some of the dry pudding mix. Continue in this fashion of layering until all is used. Top with the melted butter, pouring all over the mountain of goodness.







Cover with plastic wrap or foil sprayed with Pam. Let rise over night on counter top.
Bake the next morning at 350* for approximately 35 minutes. Dump out upside down in a pretty Christmas bowl like the one below. Serve hot!
Dive into this gooey goodness and enjoy!


Warning…please remove precious child** before pouring in the Caramel Roll.
Happy Baking



 

**My bestest friend's grandson~Evan

14 comments:

Sara's Sweet Surprise said...

Hello Cora~I've just strolled in for my first visit...I've enjoyed taking a peek at your past posts. You've got so many treasures captured in your wonderful photography. Your blog is so beautifully inviting.
We share similar taste for so many of the same design elements.

I love playing in the kitchen too.
Sugar cookies are my seasonal favorite (weakness).
I'd like to try the Rhodes caramel rolls. This is a nice change from the traditional Monkey Bread.

I've bookmarked you in my favs.
I look forward to coming by your charming blog again.
Come by for a visit. Your company would be nice.

Sweet wishes,
Sara

Mary @ Neat and Tidy said...

These recipes sound wonderful, and I love a good cookie recipe! Cora, thanks for sharing these. Looking forward to more good things from you this year.

Southern Cinderella said...

Thanks for sharing the cookie and icing recipe! I will be using this for Valentine's Day!

Char said...

YUM!!!! I am going to try both recipes.

Anonymous said...

love that last image :)

i'm going to make the sugar cookies for my daughter's birthday party, coming up this month.

Anonymous said...

i will be baking these cookies with the twins this week. thank you so much! have a good Sunday!

Anonymous said...

Cora,
Thanks so much for doing your blog. I know that you are now ADDICTED to blogging and I am ADDICTED to reading yours!! You do such a great job and I do not know where you find all the cute stuff!! I just loved the snow!!
Keep up the good work. Thanks for the recipe.
Happy New Year!
Janan

Twyla and Lindsey said...

I've just discovered your beautiful blog and wanted to let you know that I have enjoyed my visit here very much. You have a beautiful blog and I love the things you share. I have become a follower. Have a wonderful day! Twyla

christina said...

Bless his heart! He is just too cute!
And this is a recipe~ I have to make. Next weekend I am thinking... did I tell you that crock pot candy was so good, it was gone from the xmas buffet in about 10 minutes.
xo

Traci said...

Adorable baby photo, yummmy recipes and lovely teacup. Sweets all the way around!!

Martha's Favorites said...

Cora: Your cookies look so good. I always enjoy reading about what you are making. Wishing you the best God has to offer in 2010! Blessings, Martha

Caroline said...

Such wonderful recipes and photos! And that baby in the bowl...so sweet!

Angie Berry ~ Berry Homespun Primitives said...

Sweet baby picture!

Ok, I printed off your recipes to make for Valentine's Day. I love how the pages have your blog info on them when I printed them off so when I add them to my recipe scrapbook (that is kinda in the works.. lol!), I will add a little piece about my new blog friend!

Laura@The Oily Cupboard said...

thanks for sharing such incredibly delicious pictures! esp the baby in the cup! hee hee