making more than cookies

this was the first year that the kids and i have made christmas cookies. yes, you read that right. until this year, i, the icing and cookie lover, had yet to share the joy of decorating christmas cookies with my children... but have no fear. we have shared the joy of eating christmas cookies in the past. oh, yes we have. but this year, i thought that the kids were old enough to really have fun with the cutting out and the icing. we all had a ball. my mom came over to help out, which was a good thing. (she kept us all from eating all the dough! and you think i'm kidding...)

here are two excited kiddos ready to get started!


gram enjoyed taking some time off work to spend the morning with us. ethan loved having her help us cut out the cookies. (this picture is one of my favorites from this christmas!)


caroline got the hang of cutting out the cookies, too.


but before long, caroline could be found doing a little clean-up work...


and here is that child again, sneaking some dough!


caroline was not the only one who wanted a taste...


he knows he's caught!


this picture is one of my favorites from the day.... that bowl of dough was so tempting. (wonder where my kids get it from!)


before long, we'd finished cutting out all the cookies....


and caroline was complaining that her hands were dirty. i guess it did not occur to her that what was on her hands was the same dough that she was chowing down on just 10 minutes prior to this...


the cooling cookies looked yummy... and they were. i had to do a taste test on just one. for the record, it was a broken snowman.


oh what fun we had icing these cookies! i may have had more fun than the kids. my sprinkle of choice is the nonpareil.


both of them actually did pretty well icing the cookies. caroline had no problem cleaning up her mess as she worked, if you know what i mean. (and keep an eye out for ethan's yellow star in another picture.)


gram helped ethan make a super cute snowman.


caroline's favorite task of the day was applying these little rainbow chips to her cookies. she used them for ornaments on christmas trees, and here, she is making one colorful snowflake! speaking of colorful, look at this girl's tongue. who even knows how many pink rainbow chips she ate!


the fruits of our labor! ok, see if you can find ethan's yellow star now....


it's the RED star on the top right. it was yellow until a little mishap with the red sugar. :)

it was a true test of patience for ethan and caroline to wait until after naptime to enjoy a cookie. and then of course, i made them take pictures first! here they are with their cute snowmen. caroline wants you to please notice that her snow-girl has a flower on her hat (just like hers). and lemme tell you, these snowmen were some tough cookies (literally!). the kids dropped them more than a few times as i tried to get this picture, and they never broke! whew!


picking their cookie to eat.... such a tough choice!


and here is the moment they'd been waiting for all day.... eating that cookie! i laughed because they both chose the swirly ones that i quickly made at the end, trying to use up the rest of the (delicious) icing. i thought for sure they'd choose a cookie that they had made!


and caroline could not wait to show daddy all the cookies that they had made when he got home that evening.


confession: i could not stop eating these cookies. they were so so good. i'm not saying that to brag. i didn't come up with the recipe. they were just so darn good. and sadly, i have very little willpower when it comes to treats like these. the only thing that stopped me from eating them all was that i did not like some of the sprinkles that we used. i know, it's pathetic. isn't the dad supposed to be the one that eats all the kids' cookies!??!?!? well, brian is not a big sweets guy, so i guess i have to play that role in our house.


so these were some good little cookies. here is the recipe from my friend who is probably tired of hearing me talk about these cookies. :) haha!

sugar cookies

1C butter, softened
1C sugar
1t vanilla
1 large egg
2t baking powder
3C all-purpose flour

preheat oven to 400 degrees.
cream butter and sugar in mixer.
beat in egg and vanilla.
mix baking powder and flour, add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.
DO NOT CHILL DOUGH.
divide into 2 balls. (eat some.)
on a floured surface, roll dough into 12-inch circle 1/8th of an inch thick.
cut into desired shapes. (eat what's left.)
bake cookies on un-greased cookie sheet on top rack of oven 6-7 minutes or until lightly browned.
do not resist the urge to try one. they're delicious even without icing.

sugar cookie glaze

stir these ingredients together:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
a splash {1/2 teaspoon, maybe} of almond extract, or whatever flavoring you desire. (we used almond.... my absolute favorite!)

divide the mixture into smaller containers and stir in 2-3 drops of food coloring per container making each a different color. (you may need to add more sugar or water to get it to the consistency you like it.)
use paintbrushes or a spoon to apply icing to the cookies. (my friend used paintbrushes, and we used spoons.)

this makes around 3 dozen cookies. (just an estimate, based on how much dough you actually bake!)

we didn't just make cookies this day. we made lots of memories that will last long after i've finally burned off those cookie calories! my mom and i are determined to make this a yearly tradition from now on. i'm sure the kids won't mind one bit! and i'm gonna find my heart cookie cutter because valentine's day isn't too far away!