It’s been so fun to see what cookies everyone is bringing to the Plan to Eat Cookie Exchange. I’m really wishing there was actually a table with all these cookies on it, and all of us sitting around sipping coffee and eating cookies. ~sigh~ Keep your links coming! At the end of the post you’ll find instructions on linking to your cookie recipe (don’t forget to link back to Plan to Eat from your blog. This is a sharing post.)
These festive little dainties were a tradition in my family while I was growing up. My mom’s Betty Crocker Cooky Book would come out in December and she’d pop out dozens of these little guys in all different shapes and colors. When the cookbook was re-released about 10 years ago, my mom bought me my own copy and I started making these for my own family. My kids love these just as much as I did.
First off, you’ll need a cookie press. I can’t believe how many options are out there! Whew! I have my mom’s old Wilton cookie press, but my kids find it easier to use the new one I bought a few years ago. It has a trigger-type handle that’s easy for them to squeeze out just the right amount of dough.
Here’s how it works in our house: I make a batch of dough and divide it into thirds. Next year I guess I’ll have to include the Peanut and divide it into fourths. She was wailing the entire time, wanting to get her fingers into some cookie dough. Each munchkin gets to pick what color to make the dough and in what shape to press it. Then I lay out the sprinkle spread on the table and they go to town decorating their cookies.
I like to put the decorated cookies into the fridge for about 10 minutes before baking. They hold their shape better that way. If you just can’t get enough of the decorating, you can add some frosting or glaze after baking.
Now, if you’ve been reading my posts for a while you might think that these cookies don’t really sound like something I’d make, or feed to my kiddos. Food dye? Sprinkles?? What can I say? We’re a well-balanced family.
If you have concerns about food dyes, you can definitely just leave these treats “cookie-colored” or use some vegetable based food dyes (I’ve seen these at Whole Foods, but was turned off by the price tag. FYI, The same company also has a line of natural sprinkles.)
Leave out the dye and the sprinkles if you must, but don’t miss out on the melt-in-your-mouth buttery goodness of these little cookies.
Plan to Eat users, click on the recipe title to import the recipe into your account.
Source: Betty Crocker Cooky Book
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1⁄2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp flavoring vanilla or almond
- 2 1⁄4 cups flour
Method
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix butter, sugar, egg, salt and flavoring thoroughly. Work in flour in batches.
- Divide dough into quarters (color if desired). Press through cookie press following manufacturer’s instructions. Decorate, if desired.
- Bake 6-9 minutes, or until set, but not brown.
- Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Rules for Sharing:
The rules for sharing are simple: If you take a cookie (link from this post to your blog) you should leave a cookie (link from your blog back to this post).
If you’re linking to a recipe in your Plan to Eat account, you don’t need to bother with “leaving a cookie”. Just copy and paste the web address for your recipe from your Plan to Eat account.
How to Get Your Cookies Onto the Goodie Table:
I really want this to be easy and accessible to everyone, so leave me a comment if you have trouble. I’ll do my best to help you out. It’s a little bit harder than just setting a tray of cookies on the table, but I promise it’s pretty easy. Just click on the link below that says “Click to view/add link” and follow the directions.
This is our first time using linkies on Plan to Eat. We appreciate your grace as work out any bugs that may occur.
Share Your Christmas Cookie Link
