Sugar Cookies!!!

Sugar Cookies from the BHG cookbook (the Betty Book as my mom has always called it) is a definite Christmas tradition we've done for as long as I can remember. My dad would make the dough for my mom and I to bake while he worked nights as a restaurant manager. My mom and I would then choose the colors to the frosting carefully (one of them was always the favorite color of the year. You should have seen my mom trying so hard to make the correct shade of purple!). We then would carefully decorate the first 10 or so. Making the snowman have tophats, buttons, and a scarf. It was after the 10th cookie or so that my mom and I would get tired of decorating and the glopping would begin. We didn't make them look trashy, but instead just wouldn't decorate with such detail as the first 10. After decorating, I would always choose one of those fancy 10 to leave out for my dad to eat when he got home from work and of course Santa's cookies were also carefully selected. Sugar cookies definitely played a big part of my Christmas' growing up. I have tried to pass this tradition of sugar cookie baking down to my husband but he gets bored quickly. I hope to keep the tradition going when we have kids of our own too. While these aren't the best pictures, my fancy 10 are in the tin somewhere! Enjoy and I hope you all have fun with your holiday traditions too!

**I should mention that I always make a double or triple batch of this dough. I makes about 50 cookies with my favorite cookie cutters. The recipe below is the non-doubled recipe. The recipe below is the original, my WW modifications are in italics. You would never know I subbed anything, they are just as buttery and perfect as they always have been, even with eggbeaters and light butter!**



Sugar Cookies
(Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup butter, softened I used light butter
  
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Dash salt
• 1 egg I used 1/4 cup eggbeaters
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon skim milk

1. Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough for 3 hours or until easy to handle. I always chill overnight.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll half at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. Keep the remaining dough in the fridge until you are ready for it. Using a 2-1/2 inch cookie or biscuit cutter, cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree F oven 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Cool on a rack. Makes about 36 cookies.

POINTS per Cookie: 2, 3 with frosting (recipe below)

Now we always make chocolate frosting, just the frosting that is on the back of the Hershey cocoa can. It's delicious, but this year I had no cocoa for the frosting, so it was just plain frosting for us this year. The frosting we always make I think is from the powdered sugar container. It's very simple.

2-3 tbsp butter (go by taste, I always use 3 tbsp)

2-3 cups powdered sugar

a couple tsp milk to add moisture to frosting.

2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter (must be very soft) and vanilla with a mixer. Add powdered sugar and then add milk. Go by what the frosting looks like, it's easy to add more milk, not so easy to take it out. I divide this frosting up into 3 bowls and add food coloring to the desired color. This does add more liquid to your frosting, so you may need to add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it up but try not to add too much or your frosting tastes like pure sugar which is not so good. Trust me, I have done this many times! LOL!