This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the J. M. Smucker Company. The opinions, photos and text are all mine.
More cookies are being baked in our kitchen! I honestly have given up on mopping or cleaning the kitchen floors because they are destined to be covered with a dusting of flour. I’ll wait until the week of Christmas and do a heavy cleaning before all of our holiday guests arrive. Tonight Delilah, Emmett and I (yeah I had help from a three and one year old) went to Publix and picked up butter, baking soda and Crisco®. We came home and mixed a triple batch of sugar cookies. I put a small bit of the dough in the freezer so we can make Santa some fresh cookies on Christmas Eve but the rest will be decorated tomorrow. After the kids get home from school my sister-in-law and niece are coming over so all of the kids can frost Christmas cookies together until their little hearts are content.
Emmett and Delilah stood on a chair sneaking licks of cookie dough and operating the mixer. Delilah did a great job at making flour blow out of the bowl all over herself, the counters and the floor. As I think back to that moment I am proud of the patience I had with them. I’m working on having more patience in the kitchen with the kids but it is a never ending battle. I’m type A and they are type messy. From their kitchen skills to Delilah’s naptime bed head – MESSY!
As I was baking I was thinking about the steps I take to make a perfect cookie. I always spray my cookie sheet with Crisco® non-stick cooking spray between every batch, I set a timer and pull my cookies out of the oven a tad bit early then I let them cook on the pan for a minute before removing to a cooling rack. I think the #1 way people mess up in baking is overcooking. I am going to pick on my own mother for a minute. She always served crunchy overcooked cookies when I was growing up. She never forgot the Crisco® but she also never set a timer and would be busy cleaning house in between baking each batch. She would always forget them and even a minute or two too long in the oven ruins the whole batch. Love ya’ mom (but not your crunchy cookies)!
Last year around Christmas I bought a couple new baking sheets and spent quite a bit of money on them thinking the more they cost the better they probably were. I got them home and my cookies weren’t turning out right. They were spreading out like pancakes and browning on the bottom before the tops were close to being done. I hit facebook and asked my followers for their input. A few people said it was probably my new pans so I tried a batch on my old pans and the next batch came out perfect. I suppose they have been seasoned and broken in with many layers of Crisco® over the years.
- 2/3 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Crisco®
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease each cookie sheet with Crisco®.
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In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium high for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined.
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Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer and stir in any remaining flour.
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Cover and chill dough until easy to handle (I prefer to chill overnight)
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On a floured surface roll half of the dough at a time to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheets.
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Bake at 375 for 7 minutes. Cool on wire rack and decorate with icing if desired.
Do you have any fond memories of making cookies as a kid? I remember my mom being the same way I am with my kids. She wanted us to help but then we were messy and ate all the dough so she shoed us along halfway through.
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