Sugar Cookies

It's definitely that time of year.  My mom always had a huge list of cookies she would make, mostly to please each of us, her kids.  And with five kids each with different 'favorites', that meant a lot of cookies.  But we always had a crowd for Christmas so they definitely never went to waste.  These are Rachel's favorite.  My dad loves the peanut butter ones with the kisses, although actually he hates the kiss part and always rips that off.  You would open the tupperware container to a half full bin of cookies with several abandoned kisses.  La's favorite are definitely the buckeyes or peanut butter balls as we call them and often puts herself on a 'cookie quota' for fear of eating them for breakfast.  I guess mine always changed, my mom would always call and ask what she wanted me to make before coming home.  So we had our traditions, but also would throw in some new ones.  But she always made these.  Sometimes she would wait for all of us to come home before she baked them so we could all do it together, but either way they were always a staple on the cookie platter.

The original recipe is from a neighbor of my parents and it makes a ridiculous amount of cookies.  Sometimes we would start making them and just leave part of the dough in the freezer.  Too much to tackle.  That's probably why we would often have Valentines Day Sugar Cookies as well.  A way to use up all of that dough.  Those pink hearts are pretty cute though.  I've halved the recipe here for you.  I made the whole huge batch last night and thankfully had lots of friends to help.  My mom used to laugh how she had to make us do things like decorating the tree and making cookies, but somehow we all grew into loving it.  I think mostly we were just hard-to-please teenagers.  But even as we got older and were excited about making the cookies, at some point we would get bored of it and abandon my mom.   So half of the cookies would be cutely decorated with sprinkles and the whole bit, and the other half would be just a slab of frosting.  My poor mom.  The whole decorating thing got old and we just left her to the rest.  She would be left with probably 50 cookies to frost on her own.

Although these aren't my absolute favorite Christmas Cookie, for me they are so nostalgic.  They are of course a great recipe.  A little bit of citrus makes them a bit different than your standard sugar cookie.  And of course they are buttery with creamy frosting, but more than anything I just can't imagine Christmas without them.  And my mom would be happy to know this year that I stuck it out to the end although there was some talk about just having 'cookie dippers' rather than frosting the last few.  Some things never change I guess!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies
1 1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1 tsp Orange Peel
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2 TBL Milk
2 tsp Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
4 1/2 Cups Flour
1 TBL Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

Frosting
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 TBL Milk

Directions:

Cookies
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium sized bowl.  Set aside.  In mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and beat until fluffy.  Stir in milk, vanilla, orange peel and orange juice.  Slowly add dry ingredients.  Mix and divide in half and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat Oven to 375.  Roll and cut out dough to desired thickness.  Bake for 6-10 minutes depending on size of shape and thickness of dough.  Cookies are done when center no longer looks wet.  Or if you like them more crispy cook until ends start to turn golden brown.  Let cool before frosting and decorating.

Frosting
Mix all ingredients in mixer until smooth.  Make sure to let cookies dry before packing up.  Best to pack in layers in air-tight container.  Put wax paper between.