Remember December: C is for Cookies and a Keeper from the Recipe Box

I love to make sugar cookies during the holidays. I wish I had a picture of my own cookies, but I had to settle for this beautiful getty image. Cutting out large Christmas trees and frosting them are my favorite type to create. I also like to crush up candy canes to decorate the trees. I do other shapes also and love the frosting recipe I have listed below for decorating. I don't know if it is the smell of sugar cookies when they are baking or that first taste of a warm cookie off the wax paper, but I do love sugar cookies. If you haven't tried them lately, this is my favorite recipe to use.

Deluxe Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
granulated sugar

Mix together sugar and butter. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract; mix well. Blend in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover and chill for 2 to 3 hours. Heat oven to 375 F. Divide dough in half. Roll each half 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut into desired shapes; sprinkle with granulated sugar. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown on edges. I watch them and sometimes they are done in 5 minutes. There is nothing worse than an overbaked sugar cookie.

Instead of sprinkling them with sugar, I frost them with Cream Cheese Frosting. I like this kind of frosting because it spreads easily and isn't so sweet. Warning... it doesn't harden up like Royal Icing so you can't stack them as easily without having the frosting stick.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb. box of powdered sugar

1 cube butter, softened

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla or almond flavoring

Mix until smooth. Freezes well!

This recipe is taken from the 1969 Betty Crocker Cookbook which was the first edition I owned myself. It is also called Mary's Sugar Cookies.