Sugar Cookie Recipe

Posted May 30, 2014 by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

This sugar cookie recipe is the best ever – you make these cookies and you are guaranteed that everyone will love them, and it is one of the few things I make from scratch . . . they’re that good.

I used this recipe to make the paw print cookies pictured here, as well as most of the others on my Cookie Page.

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

I originally saw this recipe by Jill Saunders on Allreceipes.com and have been using it for years. Jill says that “whenever you make these cookies for someone, be sure to bring along several copies of the recipe! You will be asked for it, I promise!” . . . and, believe me, she’s right.

INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

YIELD . . . This recipe makes approximately 5 dozen dropped cookies or 3 dozen thickly rolled cookies
PREP TIME . . . 20 Minutes
BAKE TIME . . . 6 – 8 Minutes
READY IN . . . 3 Hours

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. With a hand mixer, beat in eggs and vanilla. With a spoon, stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. *

* The thicker the cookies are rolled, the longer they will need to bake. My oven runs hot, yet each sheet of cookies still takes about 9 or 10 minutes total for me because I roll them at least 3/8 inch thick – and if you do the same they will end up a bit soft still, even when fully cooked, but I promise you will get tons of compliments on how your cookies taste. I do a lot of sugar cookies, decorated various ways for different occasions – check out my Cookie Gallery – and the main comment I hear is that, while a lot of decorated cookies LOOK nice, mine look nice and actually TASTE amazing also. It’s a really great recipe.

Baseball Party

Posted May 17, 2014 by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

Goody Bags with my own label (find the bags at Michael's or Party City) — Goody Bags with my own label (find these plain bags at Michael’s or Party City)

I would recommend a Baseball Party if you’re looking for a party idea.

We did this for the birthday of one of our middle boys last summer and it was a real hit. Everyone loves baseball, right?

Plus, it was a very fun party to plan. Pictured here are a few of the items I created for our party.

Visit my Baseball Party page for more photos and ideas.

Pennant Signs for the Burger/Hot Dog table - I did several baskets with the peanuts & baseballs for other tables also. — Pennant Signs for the Burger/Hot Dog table – I did several baskets with the peanuts & baseballs for other tables also.

Easy M&M Cupcakes

Posted May 12, 2014 by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

Easy is the best – and when you get a crazy amount of compliments about something that was SUPER easy, well, even better!

I recently made these M&M Carrot Cupcakes for Easter. I used a simple white box cake mix, with my favorite Duncan Hines Butter Cream frosting – then added the M&M’s. Just like that. Well . . . okay, the sorting of the M&M’s (opening a couple packages and picking out the orange and green ones) took a little bit of time, but it was worth it.

I did get TONS of compliments – and they were yummy, too!

I found the idea for these on Pinterest (click here for the original post). Most of my best ideas start with something I came across on Pinterest.