And clearly I could not be more excited! But first, happy Friday! How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Did you all fill up on turkey, gravy and stuffing? Was everything perfect? Do you have horror stories?!? TELL ME!! I so need to know. Mine was awesome, but I will tell you more about it on Sunday or Monday. I want to keep things short and sweet today since we are celebrating my younger brother Malachi’s 20th birthday and I need to actually try to be present!! Which means not spending the entire day working. Actually, this is an order from the fam, so I am trying my hardest.
That said, let’s talk cookies!! Christmas Eggnog Scented Sugar Cookies to be exact! Aren’t these so fun? I mean, I know they don’t look all professional and perfect, but I have never claimed to be a pastry chef with mad skills at decorating. I actually want to pull my hair out most times I set out to make the “fancy” sugar cookies. But these sugar cookies are easy. You can decorate them however you please (and for me that clearly means holiday sprinkles all the way!) and the dough is simple as can be… as is the icing. And umm, my dough is extra special since it’s spiked with a little Christmas eggnog. Don’t be freaked if you’re not a fan of eggnog, you will still enjoy these sugar cookies. The eggnog really just keeps the cookies soft, moist and lends a nice sweetness that just kind of reminds you of all things Christmas. It’s perfect. So a few notes. I make my sugar cookies a little different from most. Instead of refrigerating my dough before rolling them out and cutting the shapes, I do the opposite. I like to roll my dough out while it’s at room temperature. I think it just makes cookie making SO much simpler. I mean, the dough is so easy to work with and it never cracks. I do use flour to keep it from sticking, which I know some people are against, but I don’t know, I love the way my sugar cookies turn out. Once the cookies are all cut, shaped and on my cookie sheet, THEN I place them in the freezer (on the cookie sheet), for about 20-30 minutes to firm up before baking. This step insures the cookies don’t spread or change shape while baking. Then off to the oven they go!! Once the cookies have cooled I frost them with my simple vanilla icing. I like to use meringue powder in my icing, it just gives the icing a nice glossy look and also helps it to set and harden. If you don’t have meringue powder or don’t want to buy it, no biggie. You can omit it, but your cookies may take a little longer for the icing to set and harden. As for decorations, I keep it simple, holiday sprinkles work just fine for me. An artist I am not.
OKAY, but I did try kind of hard on those santa hats and faces. I used colored red and green icing (I like to use gel food coloring) and simple sprinkles. It actually wasn’t too hard. Pat on the back for those santa cookies! 🙂 The rest were all made with sprinkles and icing. Super simple, but so cute! Or at least I think so! Aside from all the cuteness, these eggnog scented sugar cookies are actually delicious! They’re soft in the middle, sweet and vanillay… pretty much Christmas perfection! You have to try them for your next cookie party or holiday baking day!! PLEASE!!!
Don’t forget, always accompany your cookies with a large mug of milk…or maybe a cold eggnog….ooh, or maybe even hot cocoa!?!
