#30) Bean’s Sugar Cookie Recipe ~

*[Part of: Bean’s Baking Series]

Alright… It’s that time of year my dear friends! Time to get your baking on!

We spent this past lovely and very festive weekend baking away in our tiny little and very basic kitchen. It was fabulous! No stores, no shopping, no errands… well, yes, we did run a couple errands. But, in my dreams, we didn’t.

We just baked and frosted. Sugar cookies! How can the holiday season come and go without homemade cookies being brought to life in your oven? It can’t.

Here’s what we did. It’s simple. It just requires a bit of patience. After all, nothing sweet and precious can be rushed into existence. And no mixer needed. Made all by hand. With love…

And, as a bonus for those watching their calories, making the dough by hand and not using a stand mixer burns lots and lots of calories. As the dough slowly thickens, you have to work harder and harder to perfect the dough’s consistency. We just won’t talk about how many calories are in the cookies themselves… I heard Santa doesn’t mind, so we won’t either.

We allowed the full weekend to bake and frost, making no other commitments outside the home. No Deck The Chairs, no Christmas tree, wreath, or holly shopping, and no Nights of Lights. No to anything and everything - besides food and drink. We’ve done this every year since 2017, and this third year has really solidified it as a nice and peaceful little tradition during the holiday season.

We schedule the baking for a few weeks after the season has officially started and all the holiday activities are well underway, but before the actual holiday. It’s become a nice way to decompress, and stop everything for even just a little bit of time, during a very busy time. By stopping, we are focusing on ourselves, on family. On our baby Sheltie, who did an excellent job keeping the floor clean. On moments. And not rushing during those moments.

So we made the dough and baked all the 75 cookies on Saturday. And we spent many hours frosting and sprinkling on Sunday. All of this can definitely be done in one day, though, if you need or want. You will just need to make sure you allow a few hours to let the dough cool in the fridge once mixed though, as I mention in the instructions, or it will throw a fit and be too sticky and messy to work with. Give the dough the nap it needs before waking it up to go play!

So, get to that grocery store.
Buy your ingredients.
Dust off your copy of White Christmas on DVD. Or put some tunes on the iPad.
Press Play.
And
GET
BAKING!

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Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups butter (softened)
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 ½ cups sifted flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Cookie Directions:

• In large mixing bowl, mix sugar and butter until whipped
• Add eggs and vanilla
• Mix
• Slowly add flour with salt and baking powder
• One cup of sifted flour at a time
• Once fully mixed chill dough for two hours
• Roll on floured surface and cut into cookies
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Bake for 8 minutes
• Cool on a baking rack
• Frost after complete cooling

Frosting Ingredients:

• Powdered sugar
• Water
• Red, Green, & Blue food coloring
• 4 bowls or piping tubes - or both

Frosting Directions:
Note: We found two piping tubes at the local Dollar Tree. They obviously were not very high quality, and when I tried to squeeze the frosting through it ripped fairly quickly. But it did its job for a bit then we moved onto the second tube we had purchased just in case. Next year I’m thinking of getting actual squeeze bottles from Michaels or Hobby Lobby that are sold in their baking aisle - just a few more dollars a piece but probably well worth it for the hassle and mess of the squeeze bag.

Make one bowl each of white (no coloring added) frosting, green frosting, red frosting, and blue frosting by putting lots of powdered sugar in each bowl and slowly adding in a bit of water, and drops of food coloring, at a time.

BORDER FROSTING
To make the border frosting you can keep the white frosting a thicker, gel-like consistency - just add liquid very slowly and in tiny bits at a time. Aim for a thicker frosting and stop adding water once you like the consistency, or if it becomes to runny just add more powdered sugar. You can then spoon this frosting into the piping bag and can shape all the borders of your cookies with it. One of the goals of the border is to prevent the frosting from rolling off the edge, which gives the frosted cookie a neat and clean looking appearance. Obviously, mine didn’t meet that goal - I just know I need more practice. I did have the right consistency for the most part. And you can get as creative as you want with the border by adding details, such as eyes onto snowmen, or hats, or clothes, or garland on a tree, stripes on a candy cane, etc.
Frost slowly.

FLOOD FROSTING
To make the flood frosting the colors can be just a tad more liquidy by just adding a tiny bit more water to the consistency in the bowl. The colored bowls of frosting will be used to fill in the middle of your bordered cookie tops - to flood all the gaps made with the border.
Make separate bowls of frosting per colors you choose
Frost slowly

-Makes approximately 75 cookies (depending on the size of the cookie cutters you use.

Share & Enjoy!

We had sooo much fun doing this activity! Our cookies turned out pretty messy, but it was our first time using piping bags, and I hope to improve on that skill next year.

During this busy and fun and exciting time of year, stop what you’re doing for one weekend. Commit to nothing outside the home. Say no to all events and ticketed functions. Turn on some holiday tunes, or a holiday classic on the tv, light the yule log, and get baking… It’s good for the soul. And remember, looks don’t matter… it’s what’s on the inside that counts. ~

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Author:

Christine Pieper is an Artist and Lifestyle Blogger, living, writing, and painting in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with her hubby and eight year old puppy. She made a major life change in 2017 by uprooting and moving from Illinois to the Sunshine State, and has been living her best life in Florida since - detailing all her many and varied adventures living and traveling the Deep South to share with you. Her mission is to help you live YOUR best life - by getting out there, going for it, and making that big change you always dreamed of. Christine will inspire you to get over yourself, show up for yourself, and get out of your own way. The only one stopping you - is YOU.

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