Classic Sugar Cookies

Today I baked Christmas sugar cookies with my two girls.  Well, mostly with my older daughter, Savannah.  Matilda (my 5-month old) sat in her boppy chair and watched us - she was there for moral support.

I wasn't quite sure how this was going to go.  I liked the idea of doing something Christmasy with Savannah, but when I say she is my older daughter......she's not that much older at only 21-months.  Anyway, I thought we would give it a whirl - if things started to go south, I would just abort the mission - no harm done.

I made the sugar cookie dough while the girls napped and let it chill in the fridge for a couple hours.  Then I rolled out the cookies and off we went.  To my surprise, Savannah did AWESOME!!  I showed her how to use the cookie cutters and she followed my instructions perfectly.  Then I showed her how to use sprinkles which she thought was great fun!  As each batch came out of the oven, she had to try a cookie to make sure we didn't have any faulty batches - even more fun!!!  All the while, shouting, "yay, yay"!!  She had a blast and so did I.  Here's my little budding chef in the kitchen:

She had to try one of her cookies!!  I just think she looks adorable in her apron - it says "Please Kiss the Cook!" - how could I not kiss that little face!?

Very precise with her decorating.

Using the snowman cookie cutter (that was her favorite)!

I had such a great time teaching her the ways in the kitchen and I can't wait to do it again!  I'm not sure if you have a great sugar cookie recipe, so if not, here is my Classic Sugar Cookie recipe (comes from The Chopping Block Cooking School in downtown Chicago):

Classic Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

5 ounces (10 tbs) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk.  In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla.  Add flour mixture until combined, then divide the dough into 2 disks and chill 2 hours or overnight.

Roll dough and cut into shapes.  Bake on un-greased cookie sheets in a preheated 350 degree oven until edges are golden, about 7-9 minutes.  Cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.  Decorate as desired.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies.

Cottage Mama's Note:  If you plan to decorate your cookies with colored sugars (like we did) then brush the top of the cookies with egg white before adding sugar (do all of this prior to baking).  If you plan to decorate with frosting, wait until cookies have fully cooled.