Happy Independence Day!

In honor of the holiday, I made a couple of patriotic-looking foods, both of which turned out delicious. First, I made sugar cookies. Now, I know there are 1001 sugar cookie recipes out there and it can be nearly impossible to figure out which one would be best.....so I just used the one my mother-in-law gave me years ago. They really are scrumptious, especially with some frosting and sprinkles. I'll share my other festive red, white, and blue recipe tomorrow.

Recipe:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 t. vanilla

1 egg

3 cups flour (part whole wheat is fine)

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture, beating until it forms a nice dough. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap; chill for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 375°. Dust your rolling surface with flour or powdered sugar (which I prefer). Roll out dough to desired thickness, 1/8-1/4" or so. Cut into shapes and place on a greased or parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. It turned out to be 7 minutes exactly for me....8 minutes yielded a crispy cookie and I prefer them a little softer.

Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1 stick of butter, softened (salted is good)

4 cups powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

3-4 T. milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter well. Add sugar gradually and continue to cream until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and milk slowly, until frosting reaches desired consistency. Spread on cooled cookies and decorate with sprinkles if desired. You can always tint the frosting if you want other colors too, of course.

I had about 1/2 cup leftover frosting, but that's no problem. I'm saving it in the fridge to spread on graham crackers for treats for the kids next week. Yum!