Blast From the Past

I am going to blame my infrequency in blogging on the fact that I am a full-time student. Yep. That's it. Not because I'm lazy or I forgot to bring my camera back to school with me... again. I hope you understand that these things happen.

Nonetheless, I'm prepared to share a lovely recipe/experience with you from this past summer: 4th of July Sugar Cookies!

Back in July (which seems like such a long time ago, now that I'm thinking about pumpkin-related items -- yum), I did a little internet sleuthing to come up with some fun ideas for Independence Day desserts. Fruit seemed to be a popular theme, I noticed, ranging from Fruit Pizza (a recipe for another day, I promise) to Pavlova to Shortcake. I do love me some fruit, but I decided I wanted to branch out (in?) and stick with some good ol' fashioned sugar cookies.

The recipe I ended up using for the cookies themselves was a cross between Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart. They were thick, but not too thick, and chewy -- just the way I like 'em. As for the icing, I opted to try a recipe I found on one of my favorite food blogs. I have to admit I didn't like it at all, though, so I won't divulge whose it was. It tasted too much like powdered sugar and not enough like icing, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it to thicken up (without risking it tasting even more like powdered sugar). All in all, it was a nice try, but I think I'll see if I can find a different recipe next time.

I also realized halfway through decorating that I had made quite a lot... These cookies lasted for weeks. Probably a few weeks longer than they should have. Oh well! They were good.

When it comes down to it, however, the thing I really love about these cookies is how versatile they are. You can decorate them however you want, you'd just have to change the colors of the icing to suit your needs. The holidays are just around the corner!

Sugar Cookies

3/4 C unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together before adding to wet. Mix until incorporated.
2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and use fun-shaped cookie cutters to cut shapes out (I made squares, circles, stars, and rectangles).
3. Preheat oven to 375 F. Place shapes on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 6 minutes. Let cool before icing.

Icing

1 C powdered sugar
1 Tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp milk
1 drop lemon juice

1. Cream all ingredients together in a stand mixer until desired consistency.
2. Add milk if too thick. Add powdered sugar if too runny.
3. Divide the icing into desired amount of bowls (one per color). Dye each bowl with gel food coloring until desired hue.