Homemade Frosted Cut-out Cookies

The All-Occasion Homemade Frosted Cut-out Cookie

I was a Lofthouse Cookie lover UNTIL I found and tried this recipe . These became my go to treats for all occasions and what inspired me to try taking my kids' birthday cakes to the next level. I've been making and perfecting these cookies for about 5 years. 

The dough recipe that I use is from Margo on allrecipes.com and the frosting recipe is from P. Oakes on allrecipes.com also.

Christmas cookies for the teachers, #1's class Christmas party,
and family Christmas dessert!

Cut-out Cookie Dough Recipe

6 egg yolks

4 eggs

4 sticks of butter, softened

2 1/8 cup white sugar

7 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

plastic wrap

cookie cutters (less intricate designs work best)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg yolks and eggs, one at a time until thick and fluffy. Add vanilla, mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to mixing bowl until all the flour is incorporated. Once all ingredients are combine, place three to four pieces of plastic wrap on counter and divide the dough evenly between them and then wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.  

I have made the dough well ahead of time and thrown it in the freezer until the day before baking them. SO easy and convenient, and as an added bonus #1 is always more than willing to help make the dough! The best part about this recipe is if you have a stand mixer it is a great, throw in and walk away, and just let it whip-it, no harm done just a little extra air and fluffiness, which in a cookie NEVER hurts!

BAKING the cookies. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pull the dough from the fridge and allow the dough to set out for about 15 minutes prior to baking. If using frozen dough, thaw in refrigerator overnight, then bake. Once the dough is pliable but not too soft, rough dough out onto a floured surface until about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. (My thickness really depends on how many cookies I want to make, ideally I prefer the thickness to be right in the middle of these at about 3/8 of an inch.) Use a cookie cutter to cut your shapes on place cut-outs on greased cookie sheets about 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely prior to frosting.

Frosting Recipe - updated 12/23/15

2/3 cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar 

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In large mixing bowl, cream the butter. Gradually add 1 cup of confectioners' sugar at a time and a little milk until all the sugar and milk are incorporated. Add vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy about 3 to 5 minutes, another step where you can walk away if you have a stand mixer, the longer the better. Color however suits your fancy. One batch frosts about 5 dozen cookies. 

Updated 12/23/15 - I usually make 1.5 batches at a time and there's enough (with a little leftover) to frosting a whole batch of cookies dough from the above recipe. If you plan on doing detailed decorations on your cookies, I'd have a little back up frosting available for all the different colors. I am still perfecting how to eye the amount of frosting I need to color for a specific detail so we usually just make plenty of frosting to be safe ... added bonus who doesn't like to have extra frosting to like from the bowls! Also, as for the food coloring, I prefer Wilton's gel. I know there are lots of choices but I have been please with these and the colors I end up with.

#1's 11th birthday school treats

Decorating the cookies. Fresh frosting is handsdown the best way to go, whether you spread in on or pipe it on. As for keeps this frosting does do very well out on the counter for upto a week, in the fridge for upto a month, and in the freezer ... well I don't even want to know how long some of my things keep in the freezer :) With the amount of sugar that is in the frosting it acts as a natural preservative. A tip for you plan-a-headers, I have baked fresh dough, frosted, and frozen cookies for later use and they turn out great every time, which means this is a great way have the fun cookie without all the last minute prep!

FYI - I use this frosting for ALL of my cakes!

#2's 6th birthday school treats

#2's 8th birthday school treats ...
WE ARE METS fans, seeing this
pic again only brings sadness :(
Nice job KC Royals!

faux pumpkin pie cookies for Thanksgiving  

#2's 7th birthday school treats 

#1's 8th birthday school treats ... sorry for the blurriness,
instagram pics don't have very good resolution OR
I just am not tech-savvy enough to figure it out :)

As I tried finding as many pictures of the cookies I have done, either I didn't do a very good job taking pics throughout the years or they are saved on our other computer that has decided it is done working. Really wish I could find a pic of some of the other Christmas cookie designs I have done ... SO cute and SIMPLE if I say so myself! Also, I feel the need to put a disclaimer out for #3 and #4, their preschool doesn't allow homemade treats so they haven't had the privilege to take these homemade cookies for their birthday. 

Homemade Caramels

How to Make Homemade Caramels

Those ooey, chewy, caramely, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of goodness that always seem to make their way into the holidays are something I have never attempted because I thought they would never turn out like they were suppose to and I didn't have the time to try just any old recipe to figure it out. And then THE BEST caramel maker shared her recipe on Facebook .... HALLELUJAH!!! She's been making, gifting, selling at the Christmas Auction these caramels for years and they are literally the talk of the town!

However, I must admit, even after seeing her recipe I still needed a little nudge to give it a try because I was sure they were never going to be as good as hers! Thanks to the Mr.'s persistent requests (he knows my love language is through my cooking and baking so how can I resist!) I decided I would give them a try and keep my fingers crossed they would turn out and hope I could use them in my Christmas goodie baggies.  

So batch #1, mix, stir, cook, compare my color to the color in her picture, stir, cook, compare, stir, stir, cook, compare, stir, compare, I think that's been about 30 minutes, done, pour ... this doesn't seem so bad ... this could be a blog post! But of course before I would share her recipe on my blog I would need to check to make sure she'd approve, oh off to Facebook again I go to send her a quick message. 

While I anxiously awaited her response and for my caramels to cool, I started batch #2. This time I paid closer attention to the clock and I think in the end I didn't cook this batch as long, but again it was mix, stir, compare, stir, (she'd be DELIGHTED if I shared her recipe, SWEET, so exciting!), compare, stir, timer, done, pour. 

Now for the hard part, waiting for them to cool so I can cut and wrap them. Let me tell you, this is brutal, like watching paint dry, ONLY because I am not very patient, especially when it's getting late and my bed sounds so endearing! I would try cutting a piece to see if it was cool enough to cut more and it wouldn't be so I would OF COURSE just have to eat the 'ugly' stretched out piece of caramel, and once I had one taste, there is NO way I could stop there. All in all I would have to say they aren't as good as when she makes them, but they are gift worthy and I will continue to make them because practice makes perfect. 

Once they were cooled and had the Mr's taste test approval, I was able to cut, wrap, and bag both batches before heading to bed. 

Homemade Caramels

1/2 lb butter - not margarine 

2 cups powdered sugar

1 can eagle brand sweetened condensed milk

1 cup Karo white corn syrup
wax paper, cut into approximately 3" x 3" squares

Bring to boil over medium heat, #6 on electric burner, stirring constantly (soft ball stage, I am familiar with this phrase, but am very scared by these candy making terms and phrases which is probably why I have never attempted them). Takes about 30 minutes. Pour into buttered glass 9x13 dish. Cool. Cut. Wrap. Makes about 90 pieces. 

cookies and caramels for the kids' teachers

Batch #3 was needed to ensure every bag had enough and there were a few to spare ... and Batch #4 is already needed. SO GOOD. Each batch I have made has turned out a little different depending on how long I cooked them, but no matter what they all have turned out great. 

The recipe called for name brand, but I will inform you I used all Aldi products only because I am an Avid Aldi Shopper, 6 mouths aren't cheap to feed ... I couldn't imagine feeding 14 like my grandma. I would however be curious to try it with the name brand items and compare the difference. The total cost per batch was approximately $3.50 and made at least 12 goodie bags, which comes out to just under $0.30 per bag. I'd say it was definitely worth the efforts and I am really wishing I hadn't left the few remaining pieces at our family Christmas yesterday so I could indulge in them right now!