Recipe for a Happy Christmas and Cookies for Santa

Recipe for a Happy Christmas (from 'Christmas Joy' by Susan Branch)

Fill a house with equal parts of love, hope, & peace

Add the joy of children & the strength of older people

Season with the Music of Laughter & some Mistletoe kisses

Warm before a crackling fire & serve with tidings of comfort & joy!



This weekend we made our annual kids sugar cookies.  I love the recipe: 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for shaping the cookies
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 stickers) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

2.  Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla.

3.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Shape into disk and refrigerate, wrapped, for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. 

4.  Roll out and cut cookies.  Bake at 350 for approx 12 minutes. 



The girls were so happy for sure!



And then the real fun! Royal Icing (from Susan Branch and the Heart of the Home)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
beat 10-15 minutes until stiff

I usually triple this recipe and then divide the icing into 4 different bowls. Use food coloring to color the icing. Make sure to save one bowl white. The Christmas sprinkles show up much better on white icing.

This icing is the BEST! It hardens and you can stack the cookies when they are done. It's also like glue and really holds on the decorations! It's the real Christmas stuff!



Oh, it's good for licking!













I think they did a spectacular job!



After that I bundled them up in snow pants to keep them warm (no snow here) to play a bit outside.