best sugar cookie recipe

One of my favorite Christmas memories is making and decorating sugar cookies with my mom.  I could spend hours meticulously decorating each cookie with icing and the little sprinkles my mom gave me to use.  One time the little girl upstairs was hanging out with us and wanted to decorate cookies as well.  I wouldn't let her, I was that stingy with the cookies.  So she found the salt and pepper and decorated her own.  I was furious!  Now it is a fond memory of mine.

And then there was the year when I stayed at my Dad's for Christmas and I went with my step-mom to her mother's house and we made sugar cookies there.  Those were THE best cookies, big and thick and tasty.  yummmm  We ate so many, my dad was disappointed we didn't have many to bring home for him to eat!

Once I grew up and started my own family, I began the quest for the perfect cookie recipe.  I tried the refrigerated crap stuff, yuck!  Everything was hard to roll and too thin.  But 5 years ago I stumbled across this recipe, and have been using it ever since for my sugar cookies.  It is the BEST recipe, I swear.  It makes a lot of cookies, and calls for a pound of butter and 6 cups of sugar.  I wouldn't recommend mixing this by hand, unless you have arms of steel (which I do not posses.)  I really think this recipe was what my KitchenAid was made for.  I use almond extract instead of vanilla (as recommended in the recipe), it is delicious.  You can ice the cookies, or go without- either way they are delicious.  Delicious. Yumm

One of my prized possessions, right up there with my Janome.

my transformer- I plug the KitchenAid in this big heavy box so it works properly

A word of advice to those moving to/living in base housing in Japan- even though the houses are wired so we can use our American appliances- the current still does not flow the same (I forget the technical terms).  Therefore- things like clocks will not always have the correct time, microwaves may not heat food as fast, and things like your KitchenAid may have to work harder.  A long time spouse who has lived many years in Japan (on different bases), warned me that my KitchenAid may even be harmed if I don't get a transformer.  So I bought this big bad heavy thing for $20 at the base thrift store when my sweetie bought me a new (and more powerful) KitchenAid last year for Christmas.  I am just grateful I don't live off-base- then I would have these boxes everywhere!  Hubby told me how as a kid in Germany they had these all over the house, and what a pain it was.


Back to the cookies.  Here is the recipe, you can also find it here at KitchenGifts.com (I don't know these people and have not been compensated for sharing this recipe.)  If you go to the link you can find the printable version as well.

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES

This recipe is GREAT when using complex cookie cutters.  The dough holds its' shape and won't spread during baking.  Make sure you let your oven preheat for at least 1/2 hour before baking these or any other cookies.

6 cups flour 
3 tsp. baking powder 
2 cups butter 
2 cups sugar 
2 eggs 
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture.  Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. 

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below) 
Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes.  Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges.  This recipe
can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies. 

HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess -- Rather than wait for your cookie dough to
chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper. 
Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator.  Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all.  By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut.  Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process!  An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.

Bake away my readers, bake away!!

if you can't say something nice...

I have been MIA for the last week, I didn't even do my Food Fun Friday post (and I had pictures!)  It's not that I had something bad to say, I just didn't have any happy or positive to say.  I have been in a major funk, folks.  It started with Hubby coming home earlier than planned.  Earlier usually means 'happier', right?  Not when that means he has to leave again- earlier than originally planned.  The result being- he left three days before Thanksgiving, a day which also happened to be my birthday.  Knowing this was going to happen (and my plans were ruined) put me in a big funk.  That, and finding out some people weren't the friends I thought they were.  And- knowing the one true friend I have here, is leaving me next month.  Put that all together and you get one big pity party.

Honestly, I have dealt with being without my hubby many times (deployments) during my birthday/Thanksgiving time.  But I thought he was going to be home this year, and I had made big plans.  When I get let down, I fall hard.  Maybe that is a lack of maturity on my part, I don't know.

I know my readers will be shocked to hear this, and will probably stop reading my blog when I say this: I really don't like Thanksgiving.  I know!  It's so un-American of me.  I have my reasons, I won't get into it.  Anyway.... I tend to get all moody and feeling sorry for myself-ish every November.

I started to blog about it last week, but I didn't because it sounded even more pathetic whiny than what I am writing now.  I know- how can that be??

Let's focus on the positive (and the funny) now- shall we?

1.
My honey made me a birthday cake before he left.  He took Brother with him to the commissary and they bought strawberry cake mix.  Brother said that was my favorite.  I am not sure why he thinks that?  I have never made strawberry cake nor professed any love for it.  But I pretended it was my favorite, they looked so proud of themselves!  They used two boxes of cake mix and three, three- tubs of icing- which they colored a greyish lavender with my Wilton gel food color.  Sissy got to write 'Happy Birthday' on top.  Since there was left-over batter- there were some extra little dome cakes (a pan my Hubby made boob cakes with a couple of years ago- don't ask).

We went out to dinner and had some lovely gyoza (stay tuned for Friday's post).  We came home and found out Brownie (my chocolate lab) also LOVES strawberry cake!  She got the little dome cakes off the counter and ate them!  Hubby was so mad, but I thought it was funny.  Brownie had never done that before, not that I know of anyway!  She had food in her bowl, so the cakes must have been too good to resist!  The good thing is that the main cake was in my pretty glass cake stand, all protected.

The 'cake'.  I could have done without the big '37', but at least they didn't actually put 37 candles on it!

2.
I finally found a new car!  I even bought it all by myself.  If you live here you know that is a big deal.  So let's hope it lasts me the 15 remaining months we have here.

3.
Brother's football team finally got a touchdown last week.  The whole football/cheer/youth sports issue is another reason for my funk.  I will spare you the drama of that one except to say the poor kids have been totally robbed.  Needless to say, Brother's team rarely has enough players to even make a team and has had to borrow players from the other team to even have a game.  So it was great news when they finally got a touchdown!

4.
The tree is up- I did that all by myself as well.  Sissy helped too.  Brother wasn't interested in the tree this year, so Sissy and I went at it.  The excitement in her face when we got out the ornaments was just priceless.  I love that little girl!

Yeah, I know it's got a gangsta lean, but it was the first time I put up a live tree by my little ol' self!
We'll just say the tree has 'attitude'!

not a very good picture (as usual)- but here is one of the ornaments I bought last year at the bazaar.
 Something else to be happy about- bazaars!!

Here's to being cheerful and positive.  Here's to Christmas carols and cookie baking.  Here's to hoping my honey gets home in time for Christmas!!

Nothing to say... (yeah right!)

I started to post the other day and then scrapped it- it seemed like I had a good idea- but then it just sounded like a bunch of rubbish.  I tend to babble- but this was bad babbling.

So I am in a better mood these days.  After getting over the unanticipated shock over my grandmother's anticipated passing- I feel more at peace.  I realized that her being in hospice was always in the back of my mind- and I felt guilty that I wasn't there for my mom.  It is kind of like I have been holding my breath this whole time.

I am still trying to get into the holiday groove here- which is a task if you live in Japan.  Here they buy a Christmas Cake on the 25th on the way home from work for their family.  Strange that they don't have the day off- but why would they?  The groceries store in town has flyers in the front entrance showing all of the cute cakes they make.  Like I said- they are "cute"- but to me not very Christmas-y.  I told hubby after chowing down on some marzipanstollen I bought at the commissary yesterday- I would like to spend a Christmas in Germany some day.  I would probably eat my way through the country and then have to buy two seats for myself on the plane ride home.  The Germans make the best Christmas food- in my opinion.  Hubby actually lived in Germany as a teenager- so he agrees.  Last year for my Christmas present he took me to a bed and breakfast in Leavenworth (Washington- not the prison.)  Leavenworth is this adorable little Bavarian town nestled in the Cascade Mountains.  That was the best Christmas present ever.

The Serenity Suite at the All Seasons River Inn

The All Seasons River Inn is located on Icicle Road- which is aptly named.  In January the whole town is one giant icicle.  Good thing we had 4-wheel drive and good thing I didn't have to drive.  Hubby parked our giant Dodge truck in the tiny parking lot- or should I say he "slid" the truck into the parking lot- literally.

I loved that place- I dream about it all of the time.  When I need to go to my "happy place"- I think of our room in that B&B.  Everyday they leave you a delicious homemade goodie in your room on antique glassware.  They are always cooking and baking so the place smells like heaven.  They served the best breakfast too!  We spent our time there enjoying the ice festival, eating shnitzel, and drinking german beer.  Oh, we also checked out the wine tasting galleries.  We bought one of the bottles from Three Sisters Winery and found some lovely cheese to to go with.  Like I said- I LOVE Leavenworth.  If we get to move back to Washington some day- I am going to make that an annual ritual for our anniversary.

I guess I am thinking about Leavenworth because of the holiday feel and the "coziness" of the place.  If I could go anywhere right now- that would be the place.  For now I will just have to get out a bottle of wine and some cheese and close my eyes and pretend I am there.

I was going to write something about my wacky neighbors- but I think I will save that for my next post- something to look forward to (at least for me.)

Until then...

Cheers!