Every time you put kids and cookies together in the kitchen magical fairy dust fills the air and amazing things start to happen. Last Saturday, a group of 3–8 year old kids helped us decorate cookies for the Beyond Wonderful kitchen Christmas tree. It was a great party for them—and a photo shoot for one of our upcoming holiday features.

I baked dozens of angels, stars, trees, snowflakes, and hearts—plus lots of gingerbread girls and boys—then set the cookies around the room for easy access.

The kids donned Santa hats and aprons and started creating their masterpieces at a long table filled with pots of colored buttercream frosting, sprinkles, luster dust, decorations, and tools. Santa would be proud!

Giggling and chatting the afternoon away, they worked busily with lots of finger licking. Some beauties got eaten straight way. Some made it to the tree for a proud display. The truly loved treasures were protected at their places, boxed, and sent home.

You’ll see all the magic and get recipes and instructions on how to create your own kids’ holiday cookie party next week on Beyond Wonderful. For now, here are our recipes for the sugar cookies and buttercream frosting.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

This dough is easy to handle and yields heavenly cookies.

Ingredients

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or milk

~ For decorating: Buttercream frosting, sprinkles, luster dust, coarse or “sanding” sugar.

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and cream to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
5. Divide into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2–3 hours until firm.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, spray, or line baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Remove one of the dough disks from the refrigerator.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick.
9. Cut into desired shapes and place on cookie sheets.
10. Place cookie sheets in refrigerator or freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out second dough disk.
11. Bake the chilled cookies for 10–12 minutes until the edges are just turning light golden brown.
12. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
13. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or freeze.

Yield: Depends on the shapes that you cut.

Buttercream Frosting

This simple buttercream frosting is the perfect complement to plain sugar cookies. Add a little food coloring and start decorating those holiday masterpieces.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature*
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract**
4 cups powdered sugar
2–3 tablespoons water***
~ favorite food coloriing

* This equals one stick of butter.

** Find clear vanilla at baking supply stores.

*** Water replaces the milk normally called for in this recipe because the sugar cookies are not refrigerated.

Directions

1. Cream the butter and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth.
   
2. Set the mixer to medium and slowly add the powdered sugar.
3. Add a few tablespoons of water and beat until fluffy. If the frosting appears dry, add a bit more water.
4. Add a drop or two of your favorite food coloring and stir to mix.NOTE: You may store the frosting in an air-tight container for two weeks. Whip the frosting before using so that it an even consistency.Serves: Approximately 3 cups

   Preparation time: 5 minutes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.