cookies galore and some appreciated help from C & H

This Christmas I wanted to make an assortment of cookies to send to family and friends. I enlisted Pete to help and Willa to taste and we had a baking weekend. I also got some surprise and much appreciated help from the people at C&H/Domino Sugar. They asked that I bake something from their website and gave me a $20 gift card toward expenses. Thank you! Nothing like having someone help you with the grocery bill.

I wanted to make a yummy sugar cookie so I looked at C&H's website and found a nice recipe for basic sugar cookies. I love sugar cookies. So simple yet so delicious. I had to swat Pete's hand away from these cookies or I would not have enough to send out. Don't feel bad for him. I make him a special pile of reject cookies for his tasting pleasure.

I not only made sugar cookies but I also made world peace cookies, sugar topped molasses cookies and sables from recipes by Dorie Greenspan, and last but not least snickerdoodles. I spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday in the kitchen and by the end of the day I was exhausted. Who knew baking was so much work?

C&H's basic sugar cookies recipe is super easy and you get delicious cookies. I colored some of the dough with red food coloring for some variety. I also rolled the red dough in peppermint sugar and some dough in green and red sugar for that holiday look. I tried making a candy cane by twisting the red and white dough together but they were a failure. Pete looked at them and said "you're not sending those out are you?" I think not. I won't even tell you what he thought they looked like. Inappropriate for a baking blog. Here's the recipe from C&H:

C&H Basic Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup C&H sugar

1/2 butter at room temperature

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions:

In a large bowl beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into sugar mixture. Form dough into flat disc on lightly-floured surface; wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350ºF. On lightly-floured covered board, roll out half of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out various shapes. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on rack. Makes 3 dozen.

Thanks again to C&H for the $20 gift card and giving me that needed motivation to bake some cookies. I'm hoping to get all these cookies out of the house by Tuesday. Pete and I don't need the temptation.