The Cookie Cutter and I

Everyone has their stress-relieving activity. Some people paint. Some people read. Some people (with ridiculous ideas of what types of things are fun to do) exercise. I have a few activities that tend to calm me down--unfortunately, baking unhealthy treats is one of them.

My latest culinary adventure was simple--Valentine's Day sugar cookies. I had two requirements: they had to be soft, and they had to be cute. Not too much to ask, right? I started, as I often do with recipes I haven't tried before, with my Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. Thank you again, mom, it really is my go-to cookbook. I should get paid for saying that.

I was surprised that the directions didn't say to let the dough chill, but I did anyways. I did this partly because I wanted the dough to be a little easier to handle, but also because Patrick and I had a date--not with ourselves this time, but with a certain TV show we needed to catch up on. (We missed NCIS last week--curse you cable!)

(This is our watching-tv-on-the-laptop setup.)

I often choose to ignore things in recipes I've never tried before. Call me rash, or impatient...you'd be right. But I don't usually regret it. Case in point: the recipe said to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Whatever! I don't want crispy cracker cookies!

The recipe predicted about 36 cookies per batch. I got 36 cookies out of a doubled recipe. I was very happy with the thickness. For the first batch, though, there was a small learning curve; the cookies needed about 4 minutes longer to bake because they were thicker than the recipe suggested. Lesson learned!

For the frosting, I went with powdered sugar frosting and the tried and true plastic-bag-with-the-corner-snipped method for detailing.

I've also learned that, if you're worried about a steady decorating hand, go with something scribbly and squiggly!

The consensus: these cookies reminded me of the super-soft super-rich sugar cookies you can buy at Kroger or Wal-Mart. As I said, I thought the thickness was perfect. Next time, though, I might try to be a little more creative with the frosting flavor or the decorations. Sugar cookies are so purely sweet, they need a little something extra to make them more interesting.

For all those too far away to eat the things I make, believe me, I wish you were here to help me eat them, too. So here's to virtual goodies, sent your way with love. Enjoy!