12 Days of Christmas // Day #4 // Christmas Cookies

Today, for the fourth day of The 12 Days of Christmas I will be sharing a recipe on some sugar cookies! They're super easy to make and a fun treat to serve for Christmas parties, or just as a small snack to share with siblings and family.

(May I just say before I get too far into this, Tiger Lily was the one to make the cookies, I just took pictures :) She says that she only made 1/2 a batch and it yielded around 60 cookies, so depending on the group you're baking for, you might want to cut down on the batch as well :) I'll be giving the whole batch, so you can cut down as desired. )

Alright, here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of butter, softened
2 cups of white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt (but if you use salted butter, you can skip this ingredient)

And some pictures of the ingredients before we get started :)

Alrighty! Let's get these cookies mixed!

First off, cream the butter and sugar together until everything is evenly mixed. Take a lick if you want. . . ;) 

Dash in the vanilla, drop in the eggs, and whip 'em really hard. Or if you're not like Tiger Lily,  measure out a teaspoon of vanilla extract, pour it in, then carefully crack the eggs in without making a mess. ;) Then mix them together until everything is incorporated.

Look at that. It wasn't just the camera's fault. . . she was beating that poor dough within
an inch of its life :P 

Small interruption to the baking!

Uh oh....

Some little person wandered in, smelled something yummy and tried making a grab for....baking powder?

Once everything has been whipped mixed ever so nicely, (of course, you must be very cautious in not hurting the dough's feelings :P ) it should look something like this. Very smooth.

But less yellow-brownish. Had the camera set on the wrong setting, so it
kinda gave the mix a queer colour.

Dump in the flour Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir it all in. 

And if you decide that it would be easier to hand mix it, please make sure that you flour your hands before you stick 'em in the dough! Or else you'll end up like Miss. Tiger Lily. Lots of dough clinging to your fingers and giving you that sticky-icky feeling :P

Wonder what he's thinking. .  .

Once everything has been kneaded in, roll the dough into a smooth ball.

Oh. That's what he was planning :P 

Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour or longer.

Several hours later. . .

Time to pick out your cookie cutters!

Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

And preheat your oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. 

Remove your dough from the fridge

and roll it out onto a floured surface.

Try to make it about 1/4 - 1/2" thick. Too thin and it will burn. Too thick and will taste ...well...weird!

Flour your cookie cutters so that they don't stick to your dough, and cut out all your wonderful shapes. 

And do try not to be like Tiger Lily and behead any poor cookie men!

I added some eyes and a mouth to add . . . . more emphasis! ;) 

Lay all your cookies on your baking sheets and bake them in the oven for 6-8 minutes.

Place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting.

Once they're cool, you can start to make our frosting!

The frosting we used has only icing sugar and milk in it. And a dash of vanilla to add some flavour. The texture is totally up to you, but we suggest making it thin enough to spread easily, but not so thin that it would run off the cookie.

So just add some icing sugar into a small bowl, and add only a small amount of milk first. That way you can add more gradually until you get the texture you want.

Dip the cookies in, or use a knife of spatula to spread the frosting on. Then add some frosting and voila! you're done! 

I hope you enjoyed this post! What is your favourite type of Christmas cookie? 

Let me know if you make a batch of these sugar cookies! I'd love to hear it, and maybe even see some pictures? ;) 

Don't forget to check Faith's blog for more Christmas fun! :)