Sugar Cookies

Recipe from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/12/sugar-cookies.html

1 C real butter (no substitutions!)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t almond extract (you could use vanilla instead)
3 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy- about 2 minutes. Add in eggs and extract and mix to incorporate.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined.

Shape the dough into 2 flat disks and wrap in waxed paper and place in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours. If you want your cookies to hold their shape well, the dough needs to be chilled properly. A great tip to speed things up is to immediately roll dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper and place on a flat surface in the fridge. It will chill super fast and be ready to go in no time.

When you're ready to roll out dough lightly sprinkle flour onto your work surface and roll out dough with a rolling pin.

Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. The baking time really depends on how you like them. If you like them really soft under-bake them. In my oven, about 8 minutes does it. However if you're making large cookies, or ones with small parts or heavy frosting, you might want to be careful because they might break when they're super soft.

About 8 minutes will get you a really soft cookie, a few minutes longer (when they start to just brown around the edges) and you'll get just a little crispiness around the edges and then a soft center, bake even longer (and roll thinner) and you'll get a buttery, crispy cookie that will just melt in your mouth. Any way you do it, they'll taste good. Remove onto cooling racks when you're done and let cool completely. I honestly think these even taste better the second day.

Train Cake

Here's my little guy's first birthday cake. I got the idea from looking at a bunch of pictures of train cakes on Google images. Anyway, here's how I did it:

Train Tracks:
I made chocolate cake cookies (recipe in previous post) and instead of making individual cookies, I made one giant cookie and then cut it into strips with a pizza cutter. I outlines the tracks with chocolate frosting (I just added baking chocolate to the buttercream frosting to turn it brown), and made the "dirt" from what was left of the cake cookie and bread crumbs. The light on the front of the engine is half of an oreo.

Cake:
I will admit that I'm totally a cheater and used 2 Betty Crocker cake mixes. I baked them in mini loaf pans, and then froze them so that they would be easier to cut and decorate. The engine was made of 2 mini loafs and a barrel. For the barrel, I baked some of the cake batter in a chili can (greased really well). The animal cage just has pretzels for the bars, and an iced graham cracker for the roof.

Buttercream Frosting:
(from http://itsdinnertime2.blogspot.com/search/label/Cakes)

1 C unsalted butter
2 T vanilla extract
2 T milk
4 C powdered sugar

Easiest Cookies Ever!

Ok, so have you ever wanted or needed to make cookies, yet didn't really have time? If so, here's the recipe for you!! I make these all the time. In fact, I rarely make any other type of cookie.

1 box Cake Mix -- Family Favorites: Party Rainbow Chip (Betty Crocker is better than Pilsbury), White, and Chocolate.
1/2 cup Oil
2 Eggs
1/2 bag Chips -- optional (Chocolate, Mint, Cinnamon, Butterscotch...you get the idea)

Mix together and spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 degrees for 9 minutes (these cookies harden quite a bit when they cool, so don't cook too long).


My Thoughts:
Simplicity: 5 out of 5 -- so easy, and so fast!!
Ingredients: 5 out of 5
Taste: 5 out of 5