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!

 

Christmas Week in Pictures

I know I'll regret it if I don't include highlights of our Christmas week even though it feels like it was already such a long time ago...so here goes!

December started off with a special trip to the Polar Express at our library. So fun!

Lots of special breakfasts and things...

We also discovered that this kid loves candy canes, ha!

Twinsies! I don't know who was more excited about this, Isabelle or ME!! Levi was pretty happy about matching, too. :)

I made good on a promise, at least according to my children, I had denied them this special feast...

Elf Spaghetti!!!!

Boys in bear hats and sherpa coats = off the charts adorableness!!

Special time at Mimi's house... those are my photos on the wall back there! :)

He LOVES cutting little snippets of paper with blunt scissors. Santa was supposed to remember that and bring him his own pair. Oops.

SURPRISE!!! Ethan came home three days early to surprise us!!! I was so happy.

So was he!

I may have gone a little overboard with the Christmas jammies this year, but he's growing up SO fast and I, well, I'm just making excuses. He looks ridiculously cute in them all.

Somebody gets very vocal with story reading...

 Annual cookie decorating day at my parent's house. Going on seventeen years now!! Wow!!

I thought Levi did a great job. He didn't spill and was very precise with the brushes, especially when he would stick them right in his mouth to lick the icing, ha.

Trade secrets...

 All my babies :)

Dancing to the Wiggles Christmas CD- we still have the original VHS!

 Girl time...

More reading antics in adorable pajamas...

And the most intricate little set-ups for toys. I LOVE his imagination!

Off to meet Santa! Daddy had more than two weeks off so he came with us!

Don't be fooled here. Boyfriend was breaking out in a cold sweat, I'm sure. That candy cane totally saved him from a meltdown moment.

It took several attempts and then bribery to get him to stand without Bill beside him. So no real tears this year.

Can I have ma candy cane now? pweease?

I think I just may have to enlarge this one and put in on the wall somewhere.

Jonah got bamboo steamers and none of us is mad about it. He makes us the yummiest things!!!!

I'm sure I'm leaving out a ton, but I'm glad to have these here. It certainly is NOT all roses and bon bons but I sure do love them.

Our Christmas Home...And a Birthday Boy!!!

Today is our Caleb's sixteenth birthday!! It feels completely unreal. How is timing moving by so, so quickly??!!

Since I'm having such a hard time keeping up with posts, the shop, everyday life...everything in general, ha... I thought I'd share some photos of our home all decked out for Christmas. We moved into this house three years ago today- yes, on Caleb's birthday!- and while we've done lots, it still feels like there's so much to do. Including a mantel!!! Every time we get ready to make that happen, some life catastrophe happens and it gets pushed back. That's how it goes, I guess. But we are healthy and well, so no real complaints from me. :)

I'll share the family room first...

These were taken last Friday, when I was home ALONE. I dropped Levi off with my Mom so I could get some major sewing done. Yeah, right. I started to clean up a little, and one thing led to the next, and then the sun was shining for the first time in 800 years, so I pulled out my big girl camera to snap a few pics. #priorities

No themed tree for me, at least not while my kids are still living with us. It's a smattering of homemade and other special ornaments that I wouldn't dream of not putting up. Some years we put up our big artificial tree and I have more of a "theme" with that one, but this Mama ain't got no time for that right now. ha ha

I have two of these precious snowflakes from my Nana, who passed away twenty four years ago when I was living in Spain. Talk about time marching forward! Now I'm feeling very old. ;)

I'll have to update this shot because I moved all the stocking and the blue chair, but it represents our daily life pretty well. :)

And this turkey. Many a morning spent playing in here, and everything just seems magical by the tree's glow.

Occasionally I do sit down with a good book. Love this view too.

Onto the dining room...

I decided to start a new little tradition of making a big to do out of the first morning of December. Only it was the second morning because Jonah was working, and Caleb had plans. One thing I've learned after all these years: improvise. Our Dec 2nd special breakfast was great!

That little tree in the corner used to go in one of the boys' rooms when they were small, and Levi is a bit too small for it, so... it works nicely in here. He plays with it a ton, rearranging (and hiding or losing!!) ornaments on the daily.

He looks like such a big boy here!! And I didn't even notice that wrapper until now, ha ha ha!

Then we had our family birthday party for the two December babies. So fun!!

We had our annual gingerbread house making night, so these cute houses are now on display around the dining room. I got a huge kit, which was great, but there were SO many houses that I may have left a couple out back for squirrel food. They were completely gone within twelve hours!

Our back deck- the kitchen window overlooks this, so washing dishes has a pretty view at night. :)

Isabelle's pink tree. I've blogged about its significance several times, but just know, it's a very special tree.

Just a few holiday touches in our room...

Yesterday was a super long day for Caleb, between school projects and then driver's ed, so I surprised him with a few things from good ole McD's before his class started. He willingly posed with me, AND shot up to greet me and give me a big hug in front of everyone! Aww. Obviously NOT my best picture, but I'm sharing because that's how much I love him. We've got a big day planned, I'll try to blog about it before Isabelle's birthday on Saturday!! ;)

Joining in the fun here and here!  I just love seeing everyone's homes this time of year!

I post much more frequently on insta @bethanylivs_life so come find me and say hello!