We take turns rolling out our cut-out sugar cookie dough—
Everyone's favorite? Cutting out the shapes.
Cutout sugar cookies. Baked with my mother every year just before Valentine's Day (we used this same wonderful recipe for Easter, Halloween and Christmas too). White and light pink creamy frosted hearts that melted in our mouths and melted our hearts with pure deliciousness. The memories of my childhood Valentine's Days are melded with the memories of these cookies, as certain recipes often remind us of special moments.
Sometimes I tell my own stories to our children at bedtime. Sometimes I read them books. Often our girls will ask me to tell them about when I was little. One evening, wrapped up in our winter blankets, I began to tell about these special sugar cookies. I told our girls how these cookies were just the right softness and sweetness. The frosting just the right creaminess. Oh, yes. Now that I'm a mother I've baked sugar cookies for many holidays. None were as perfectly wonderful as those we baked when I was little.
Then there was a surprise for me on her blog one morning. The recipe. The treasured recipe of the perfect cutout cookie. Now our children can taste what I was telling them about at bedtime. They can taste my perfectly wonderful memories of Valentine's Day, this Valentine's Day. ©heather cahoon • wordplayhouse®
cutout sugar cookies
2 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour *
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk
Sift or whisk first three ingredients. Cream butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add egg. Beat until fluffy. Blend in milk. Add dry ingredients gradually. Mix well. Chill dough 3 to 4 hours **. Roll on floured surface to 1/8” thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on lightly buttered or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 400° for 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Frost with vanilla butter frosting.
*Whole wheat pastry flour has a lighter texture and color than regular whole wheat flour and can be used in place of white flour in cookie and muffin recipes.**I place our dough in the freezer for a quicker chill. We are too eager to get to the fun part quicker — cutting them out with all the fun cookie cutter shapes. Check the stiffness of the dough after an hour if you choose to do the quick chill.
vanilla butter frosting
(1/2 recipe is just enough to frost one recipe cutout cookies)
1/3 cup soft butter
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
About 2 tbsp milk
Blend butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth and creamy.
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