Recipe: Sugar Cookies and Decorator Frosting

Check out the new look of Spoonful of Something! In an effort to make the content more organized and the site more user-friendly, it got a facelift over the long weekend. You can look forward to lots of new content in the coming weeks and months, including 30-day challenges that I am very excited to get underway!

As you look around at the new organization and content, let me know if there are any recipes or tutorials you'd like to see. I'm in the process of lining up content for the next few months and would love ideas from readers.

Another exciting development this week? The designed draft of Project Cookbook is completed! I'll be reviewing it over the next couple of days and then we're off to print! I can't wait to share it with you all!

Speaking of Project Cookbook, here's another Project Cookbook recipe I want to share with you all. Specifically at the request of my friend Marsha, here is my mother's recipe for decorated sugar cookies. You can guarantee there will be massive platters of these babies (beautifully decorated, I might add) every Christmas at the Meade household. If you have a favorite set of cookie cutters, this is the recipe you'll want to use it for. Enjoy!

Platter of cookies for a Project Cookbook shoot

For the cookies:

8 hours, 30 minutes (8 hours inactive)

Makes approx. 5-6 dozen cookies

From Mom’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 5 cups flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp. cream
• ½ tsp. lemon rind

1.   Sift flour, baking powder and nutmeg together.

2.   With an electric stand mixer or hand mixer, beat butter until creamy and gradually add sugar. Beat in vanilla, eggs, cream and lemon rind.

3.   Add in dry ingredients and beat until combined.

4.   Chill dough for 8 hours.

5.   Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge and roll out on to a floured surface.

6.   Use a cookie cutter to stamp out shapes and transfer to a greased cookie sheet, then bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are firm but still pale.

7.   Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

Tips and Tricks:

1. Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.

For the decorator frosting:

10 minutes

Makes enough to frost one 9x13 cake

From Mom’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

• ½ cup shortening
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. clear corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 ½ cups powdered sugar

1.   Using an electric mixer, beat shortening and milk until combined (this may take several minutes).

2.   Add in vanilla, corn syrup and salt. Beat the powdered sugar in one cup at a time.

3.   After the last cup of powdered sugar is added, turn off mixer, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat until combined. Do not beat for longer than three minutes.

Tips and Tricks:

1. If you are frosting and decorating a cake, make a double batch. If you don’t have a very large bowl, make the double batch one recipe at a time.
2. When adding food coloring, add one or two drops at a time. It is easier to darken a hue than try and fix it after you have added too much color.