Sugar Cookie Bandit

Last week the boys (currently known as Batman-aka Ethan-and Superman-Christopher) and I made nearly 200 sugar cookies to give out to friends and family for Christmas. We had a lot a fun and decorated about half of them that day. Jon was out at a meeting and then church ball that night and, being pregnant, I was worn out and went to bed around 9 PM. I woke up at 10:30 and Jon still wasn't home from basketball yet but since I was up I thought I'd check on the kids. I went into their room and there was my little angel Ethan laying on his stuffed dog on the floor with his head akwardly propped up on their shoe bucket. I went over to put him in his bed and noticed that there was something on his bed. Turns out it was the 3 brand new jars of cookie sprinkles I'd bought the day before all dumped into a pile in the middle of his bed. Joy. Then, as I turn back to the somewhat less angelic looking Ethan I realized why he had gone to sleep with his head propped up on the shoe bucket. He had emptied the shoe bucket of it's rightful contents and dumped the 120 or so cookies we had decorated that day into the bucket and had gone off to dreamland happily munching sugar cookies. (Needless to say, those cookies had to be set aside for little boy consumption and a whole new batch made to give away.) Let's just say the little runt is lucky he was asleep when I discovered his dastardly deeds.

We were all decorating some more of the cookies together Saturday (or maybe we were doing the gingerbread houses??) and someone said something about how Santa gets so fat because he eats so many cookies at Christmas and Ethan says "Yeah, Santa's fat. And you're fat too Dad." "Thanks" says Jon sarcastically. "You're welcome" replies Ethan rather cheerily. Apparently, to a 3-year old, any likness one might have to Santa has got to be a good thing. For the cookie recipe & more pics...


Here are my two superhero cookie helpers. Little did I know that Batman had an evil alter ego who would later steal half the cookies.

Ethan with a frosting goatee and Ryan pouting that his Dad could possibly think it was okay to set him down.

Two boys very proud of the gingerbread (okay really graham cracker) houses they made.

Aunt Tiff’s Sugar Cookie Recipe
I LOVE this sugar cookie recipe. The boy’s aunt Tiffany makes them and they’re great. Usually, I ice them with buttercream or cream cheese icing, but if I’m giving them away I do royal icing because that doesn’t make as big a mess if you’re stacking them on a plate or something. Also, sometimes I brush the cookie dough shapes with an egg wash & sprinkle them with a good heavy coat of sugar sprinkles. I usually do that with the small ones because it save a lot of time in the decorating process.

1 cup soft butter
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sour cream
5 cups of flour

Cream the butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add the salt & extracts. Mix together the sour cream and baking soda and then add it in. Slowly add in the flour 1 c at a time so you don't end up with a white kitchen. Fridge it, covered with seran wrap, at LEAST two hours or overnight. Roll out, cut & bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. (but that really depends on your cookie size.) I try to take them out before I start to see brown on the edges because it makes for a softer cookie-which I like. Jon likes a crunchier cookie, so I leave a few batches in longer for him if I remember to. I bake them on parchment sheets and they never stick even if the dough is super sticky when it goes in the oven. This recipe makes about 50 average size cookies.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons warm water

Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.
* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.
**When using a stand mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.
Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency.

Happy Eating and Merry Christmas!