Around this time last year, I got invited to attend a book club. One of the women at the club shared a story about bringing sugar cookies to her child’s school under the guise as being store-bought since homemade goodies weren’t allowed. She purchased a plastic container of grocery store rolls, dumped out the rolls and put the cookies in their place. They looked store-bought, but she knew that they were hers and insisted that her recipe was the world’s-best.
I felt as though I had met my alter-ego, and I knew I could never be friends with this woman since we were too much alike. I also knew she was wrong; I have the best sugar cookie recipe. It was given to me by an old neighbor in Alabama—where, by the way, my most favorite recipes have come from. I love southern cooking and it was in Alabama that I learned some cooking and entertaining methods I will always use.
I will share the recipe with you now. You can either sprinkle sugar or candies on top before baking or ice them after they’re cooled. Either way, they are yummy! This is double the original recipe so feel free to halve it. My thinking is, if you’re going to make a mess—make a big one!
Soft Sugar Cookies
¾ cup unsalted butter (not margarine), softened
¾ cup butter-flavored Crisco
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 t. real vanilla
2 t. baking powder
2 t. salt
5 cups flour
Mix together the first five ingredients, then add the last three. Chill dough overnight or at least until firm. Separate into three or four sections for ease of rolling out and roll on a floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 4oo degrees for 5-7 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Remove immediately to a wire rack to cool.
These are yummy and, although I have a tendency to convince others that I’m right (isn’t admitting it the first step to recognizing you have a problem?), I wasn’t compelled to make up a batch and take them to her house so she could compare them to hers. I’m sure if I did, she would have insisted hers were better. And in her mind, she’d be right.
3 comments:
I just got a chance to read last night's blog. I'm am so sorry she is still sick. My mother once told me I would know my child was better when I quit feeling guilty. Over the years that has had many meanings to me, but they all represent a bit of screwy Alabama logic of which I am often guilty. Poor logic and great sugar cookies. At the moment I miss Alabama.
I hate to say it, but the book club partner passing off homemade as store-bought creeped me out a little bit.
I guess it's the germ-a-phobe in me. And what about kids' alergies? Dangerous, albeit well-meaning, swap.
Yes, I'm a coward too. :)
That would have been very 'Desperate Housewives' Bree if you would have taken a sample over. Maybe you could send over samples to my house and I'll be the judge!(I know that Traci would volunteer for the job also) I would be fair, not biased at all:)
Love ya!
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