It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas



A day off from work and I baked. ALL. DAY.

Ahhh. I just love to bake. and decorate. and make cute little things.

These were my first Christmas cookies of the season and I think they turned out fabulous.

It also helps that I have icing bags, tips and icing colors to make the decorating look a lot better.

Obviously, those are just a couple of them, but I adore them.

I used the Wilton Comfort Grip Cookie Cutters.

I also used a new sugar cookie recipe that turned out amazing.

They're soft, chewy and very tasteful.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

*1/2 cup butter

*1/2 cup shortening

*1 cup sugar

*1 egg

*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1 teaspoon almond extract

*2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

*1/2 teaspoon baking powder

*1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

*In a mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
*Add egg and vanilla and almond; mix well.
*Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture.
*Shape into 1-in. balls.  Place on greased baking sheet; flatten with a glass. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

**I only cooked mine for exactly 10 minutes and they came out perfectly.  Also, I added the almond extract to the recipe.  Feel free to take it out of the recipe but I think it adds great flavor to the cookies.  Another thing,  if you are going to use this recipe for cut out cookies, I would strongly suggest freezing the dough for out 20 minutes or so before you start to roll it out.