Welcome to Summer

Posted by Gwen@MyCookieClutter

Welcome to Summer PicFor the last day of school, I came across this fun banner idea for my boys to see when they arrive home on the bus at the end of the day.

One version of this idea is to have the banner stretched across a gate or sidewalk opening so that your child can run and break through it.

Now, that would be super fun, but we don’t have a sidewalk, only this railing at the top of the steps leading to our front door.  Plus, I have four boys and wasn’t about to make four banners – so I added the balloons to make it more festive.  I think they really got a kick out of it.

 

Happy Summer Cake - this+is+happiness

This year, I’m thinking about doing a fun but simple cake for dessert on the last day of school – something like this great cake created by Becky and featured on her This is Happiness blog . . . I love it!

 

Welcome to Summer!

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Posted by Gwen@MyCookieClutter
Paw Print Cookies
Paw Print Cookies

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.