Holiday Butter Cookies

I'm attending a lot of virtual parties around blogland, and I think for at least some of them, we we're supposed to bring virtual treats. That reminded me that way back in October when I was making these...

and these...

for the Nie Cookie Auction, and my 100th post giveaway, I promised to share the recipe. It's probably about time I did.

I suppose you can make these for any holiday, but they have always been a Christmas tradition in my family. We haven't made them this year, because we are going to wait until we go to "Lita's" house (that what my children call my mom), so she can do most of the work. :-) Actually, I'm serious. She doesn't like to have to paint all of the cookies, but doesn't mind mixing, rolling out, cutting out, baking and glazing them all. See why we make such a great team!

Here is the woman herself, in action a couple of years ago (two of the children are mine, the blondie is my niece). Isn't she amazing!

HOLIDAY BUTTER COOKIES

In a mixing bowl MIX:

1 C butter

1 C sugar

ADD:

1 egg

2 2/3 C sifted flour

1/4 t salt

2 t vanilla

Mix. Roll dough on floured surface. Cut as desired. Bake 8-10 mins. @ 350*.

What the recipe doesn't say is that you will have to roll the dough out again and again, to try and use every last scrap (unless you let your kids eat them all). Watch not to let them burn. Since they are thin cookies, you are only looking for a slight browning around the edges.

Here are some of my Halloween cookies baked and ready to go.

Now for the Frosting...but first a note:

The frosting calls for raw egg whites. My family has used the raw eggs for years, and I am not aware of a single issue with salmonella (or anything else), but you can substitute Meringue Powder like this, for the eggs if you are at all concerned. That is what I did with my Halloween cookies, just to be sure my auction and giveaway winners wouldn't be getting sick on my watch!

You can buy Meringue Powder wherever cake decorating products are sold. I actually got mine at Walmart. I haven't done an official taste test, but I think the frosting ends up tasting a little better with the eggs. But it is up to you. You decide!

So here is the recipe with the eggs: Substitution information is on the Meringue Powder can.

CHRISTMAS COOKIE FROSTING:

MIX together in mixing bowl:

2 egg whites

1 t. vanilla or almond flavoring

2 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 T water

BEAT at HIGH SPEED until it turns white and thick

FROST cookies and let sit until completely dry

THIN down some of the frosting and ADD coloring to make paint to put details on the cookies.

The frosting should look kind of like this:

We usually start with a plain white coat on all of the cookies. It makes sure they all get enough frosting and gives you a blank canvas to paint on. Just make sure you let them dry well before painting, like so:

So this is a picture of me mixing food coloring with the frosting to get ready to paint, but it isn't the best example. I was going for purple and ended up adding way too much color and ending up with a dark charcoal gray. Fortunately, it was Halloween, so that was just fine!

So do this, but add less color. Depending on how thick you make the frosting, initially, and what type of food coloring you use, you may not even need to water down the frosting. You don't want it to be too runny!

Mix all of your colors in their own little containers, and then using clean paint brushes, go to town!

Don't be afraid if you end up with green angels or yellow snowmen. That is half of the fun! It is just that as my sister's and I got older, we started trying to see how detailed we could make the cookies (don't blame me, I'm the fourth sister...I was still in the green angel stage when that insanity first appeared. I could only follow suit). One trick is to use a very fine brush and paint details with plain black food coloring, instead of mixing black frosting. Try not to use a lot of the food coloring, though. It takes longer to dry and will get on everything (including faces)!

So if you try to paint each cookie this way, you'd better plan a full week of cookie decorating, but it is always fun to try and make at least one cookie extra special.

If you try making these, please send me a link, or upload your photos to the Facebook fan gallery!

For more festive cookie recipes, go here!