Best No-Fail Sugar Cookies Recipe

I hope December has been off to a good start for you! Tomorrow is our third son's twentieth (!!!) birthday and I'm in complete denial. Last night we whisked the two youngest down to Orlando to see For King and Country's Little Drummer Boy Christmas concert and it was amazing, though I'm feeling particularly tired and old today after getting home around 1 AM. We're not exactly go-with-the-flow type parents so this is a BIG deal for us, ha! And today we drove south again (but only an hour this time) to say goodbye to our other son's college roommate and friend who will be returning to NC for second semester, so of course I brought him sugar cookies.

Which is a good segue into... this recipe for easy, no-fail sugar cookies. They're soft and chewy, the dough is easy to work with, and it makes a lot of batches so you can divide the dough and freeze or chill the extra for later. The baked cookies also freeze well so you can thaw and decorate at a later time. You can freeze decorated ones as well, after they're completely dry, but personally I don't prefer them that way.

No-Fail Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened slightly

2 cups granulated sugar (I use slightly less and like it this way)

4 eggs, room temperature

2.5 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups flour (I use unbleached)

2 tsp baking powder

dash salt

*optional: dash nutmeg and/or cinnamon

Directions:

-In large mixing bowl (you will need a sturdy mixer) beat butter and sugar together

-Add eggs and vanilla

-In medium bowl combine flour, bp and salt

-Add some flour mixture to wet mixture, mixing together well

-Place in fridge to chill for ten minutes up to one hour (I prefer quicker chilling time)

-Scoop out some sough and roll out on a flour-covered surface to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick or your preferred thickness (thicker cookies will stay soft after baking, thinner ones will be crispier)

-Cut out cookies with your favorite cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheet (if your sheet is shiny or new, you may need to spray the pan or line with silicon or parchment paper; my sheets are well-used and now dark)

-Bake at 400 F for 5-6 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies and if you prefer cookie edges not to be browned or darkened

-Let sit on pan 1-2 minutes and gently place on racks to cool before frosting

Cookie frosting/icing: confectioner's sugar and water, usually about 2 cups sugar and 1-2 tsp water

I've been using small squirt bottles for frosting cookies for a couple years now and I'll never go back! To keep sprinkles corralled, place cookies to be decorated in shallow baking pans.

So go make some cookies, turn on the Christmas music, and get to decorating. These cookies make great gifts for neighbors and teachers, too. Enjoy!

Hello again! Happy December!

How's everyone doing??!! Life here is busy and mostly good. ;) In recent months I've come to realize that I really miss the world of blogging! Not the advertising/consumer/influencer type of blogging, but the good old fashioned kind of documenting our lives to have one day to look back on. So here I am!

Happy December 1st! Obviously this is a busy month for everyone, but we have two birthday kiddos in our family so it always feels a little bit "extra" as we celebrate that and get ready for Christmas. I actually need to get ready to head into my office soon but I'm taking the plunge and hitting "publish" before I go, ha!

In the spirit of the holidays and fun traditions, I'm sharing my favorite festive cookie recipes. I hope you enjoy them!

Ah that sweet little face! That was quite a few years ago now...

Holiday Chocolate Spiders

Mini Chip Shortbread Cookies - No Eggs!

I've gotta go but I'll post our favorite sugar cookie dough soon and then I want to talk fun traditions. I love hearing about everyone's special traditions!

Hellooooo!!!

Well, hey there. It's been a minute, hasn't it? I have missed this little space so much, and it really is such a great way to keep track of family life and capture precious memories. So where do I begin??? No idea, I guess I'll wing it. :)

The biggest bits of news are 1) we moved to Florida back in November; and 2) I just finished my graduate degree in counseling psychology and worked all this past year as a clinical therapist intern. Wow. And then throw in all things Covid-related, and, well... WOW! What. A. Year.

Let's just jump in with Christmas, and maybe I'll backtrack a bit after that. We tried to keep things focused on the real meaning of Christmas, like we always do, but if I'm being totally honest, that was hard to do this year. I think it's safe to say lots of things just feel off, and add a major move to the mix, and things felts really off. But of course there were some absolute moments of joy, too!

Lots to explore in our new town! The downtown area is just beautiful with twinkle lights on every tree along the streets, and the sunset on Christmas Eve was spectacular!

A blurry but goodie :)

Ha ha ha ha

My Mom's special Advent calendar... look closely, ha ha

Levi decorated his little tree all by himself this year!

Santa's cookies on Christmas Eve

Levi wanted to draw special pictures for him. I see a present, some letters, "Hi Ho" and a stocking. Not bad! I asked Santa to bring all my babies together under the same roof for Christmas, and we were THIS close, but we got sick, some of us with Covid and the flu. It was pretty miserable but we're doing better and are very thankful about that. 

He asked for so long for a special dinosaur friend for Popsicle, his blue dinosaur. Meet Popcorn! So sweet. :)

All ready for Christmas dinner. Someone lingered in adorable jammies and wanted to play and color all day long. Sounds good to me!

We now live just a few miles from the ocean in North Florida so we spend lots of time wandering around out here by the waves. Officially our first day after Christmas at the beach! It certainly has had its highs and lows, but I'm trying to stay focused on the positives. I sure do miss our families! Being so far away is hard. Any tips for me to help with the adjustment?

I hope whoever happens to be reading this is doing well and looking forward to a brand new year. I've missed connecting with people through this space! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, even if it looked a little (or a lot!) different this year. Prayers for a happy and healthy 2021!

 

A Day in the Life ~ 2/5/19

Hi friends! I realize I haven't done one of these day in the life posts for a looooong time, and they're my favorite! I know the details fade and I'm so glad to have them written down to look back on again. Hope you enjoy reading about my exciting life, ha ha. :)

Normally I'm up and at 'em just after 4, but I hardly slept the night before so it was a little after 5 when I started picking up, finishing lunches, and going through photos....because I am currently obsessed with organizing files and such. It will be feel so good when it's done BUT. Ugh. ha ha

I've been eating these pan cooked apples and dates several mornings a week for a while now. So easy and delicious!

Doing a little "reading" while I move in the kitchen...

Making pancakes for the kiddos...

He refused to eat most meals yesterday so he was especially lovely this morning. Good thing he's cute. ;)

Morning sky at drop off. The temps reached 60 degrees yesterday!!!!

A happier backseat driver :)

Lots of mornings he still wants to be in his crib and read. So I used it like baby jail and grabbed a shower. I feel it should be noted that Caleb and I went to the gym Monday evening- I showered quickly but my hair was gross, ha! Speaking of hair, I may have given myself a hair cut because I am miserable with this stupid new cut from two weeks ago. She gave me the WEIRDEST layers and it was not working. At all.

Moving on...to laundry folding!

And then the grocery store... he wanted my chapstick so he was puckering up! :)

Silly boy!

First daffodils of the season!!!

For me? Levi was chatting with ALL the people around us. Counting, singing, jabbering, you name it. He was feeling much more outgoing than normal.

I never mind grocery shopping...until it's time to put it all away. Check out that awful sand and grit all over. You just can't escape it until June around here, no matter how many times you sweep and vacuum!

I kept running back outside to watch him play

Lots of puddles- he got soaked, ha! And he loves chalk but didn't like drawing on wet pavement. Can't blame him there.

My Mom and Dad stopped in and had lunch, but Levi wouldn't eat a thing and was crabby. And naughty, so he got put to bed for a nap without any stories. That has happened only once before! He LOVES reading books! It was so sunny and warm, I opened up the door in our bedroom. Everybody was enjoying the fresh air. :)

Hi!

Pretty view!

For some strange reason, I decided (on a whim) to organize some fabric while he slept. WHY??!! This was the worst of it, but Levi was having the best time playing out back on the deck. It's been over four months since we could do that.

Making tacos and quesadillas for dinner, and then driving Isabelle and a friend to basketball practice. The sky over this field is so pretty at sunset.

Someone discovered the art of "Timmmmmmber" and was having a blast.

Daddy told Levi that he'd give him a massage after his bath. What a good Daddy. :)

After reading and getting Levi settled, which took FOREVER last night!, I got the coffee ready for morning for Donut Wednesday and cleaned up a bit. I had just gone to bed when Levi screamed his head off so I ran in there to see what was the matter. He was out of it and hysterical, and I could tell right away that he'd pooped. That hasn't happened at night for a long time, so I took care of that but he still had a hard time settling back down. Shortly after, Jonah got home- his job scheduled a late night, which did not make me happy in the least- so I went down and chatted with him. Little did I know that I'd be sleeping on the couch within the hour because someone was unable to stop snoring- poor guy hasn't been feeling well and I didn't want to keep bothering him, so I went downstairs.

And that was my day!