Carrot Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Recipe

*

Ingredients
:

*
*1/2 cup Butter

*1 cup Sugar

*1 teaspoon Vanilla

*1 Egg

*1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream, Sour Cream or Cream Cheese (I’ve used each one of these variation each gives the cookie a slightly different taste and they’re all yummy!) Note: If you use cream cheese use only 3 cups of flour

*3 and 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour, more if needed (Dough should be slightly sticky)

*1 teaspoon Soda

*1/2 teaspoon Salt

*Carrot Cookie Cutter, the number of cookies this recipe makes will depend on the size of cookie cutter you use

*
In a stand mixer on medium-low speed cream together the butter and sugar. Then add the vanilla, egg and cream of your choice and mix just until combined.

*
Using Sifter, sift together in a bowl the flour soda and salt and slowly add to the creamed mixture, mixing on low just until barely combined. Dough should be slightly sticky. Do Not Over Mix!

*
Then divide the dough into 3 dough balls, flatten dough balls making disk shapes. Now wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or more.

*
Remove 1 dough disk at a time from the refrigerator and rollout disk on a floured surface with rolling-pin or use 2 pieces of plastic wrap, placing the dough disk in the center of 1 of the pieces of plastic wrap and the second piece on top of the dough disk, use rolling-pin and roll out the cookie dough about 1/2 inch thick.

*
Use a cookie cutter of your choice and cut out shapes in the rolled out dough. Repeat for each dough disk. Then add to the next dough disk the scraps from the first disk or (discard scraps of dough), continue this technic until all the dough is used.
Place cookies on a Silpat covered half baking sheet, 12 cookies per sheet.  For best results refrigerate the cut cookies on baking sheet before baking 5-10 minutes.

*
Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 425* F. oven for 8-12 minutes or barely starting to turn golden on the bottom; baking time depends on the size of cookie cutter used. Do Not Over Bake! If you do over bake they will become to hard. Cool on baking sheet.

Recipe from Tested Recipes Cookbook, Central Milling Company third edition, now out of print an old family cookbook

Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

*1 cup Butter, room temperature

*3 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted

*1 to 2 tablespoon Heavy Whipping Cream

*1 tablespoon, Vanilla Extract

*Pinch of Sea Salt, literally 

Cream together in a stand mixer on medium-low speed, the butter and powdered sugar adding the powdered sugar in thirds.  Mix until mixture is a pale yellow 2 to 3 minutes.

Add to the creamed mixture the heavy whipping cream, vanilla and sea salt.  Mix for 6 minutes or until light and fluffy on medium high speed.

This recipe makes around 3 cups of frosting, color 2/3 cup of the frosting for the Green leafy tops and the rest of the frosting copper for the carrots.

Mix in desired food coloring.

*2 Pastry Bags with round or star tips or I just clip off the end of the pastry bag tip, cut the size you wish to pipe on the fluffy lines on the cookies. I piped up and down for the green leafy tops and side to side/back and forth to get the look of a real carrot.

For Carrots add 1 small drop size of Copper Gel Paste, like Wiltons and small amount Leaf Green or Moss Green, like Wiltons for the leafy tops. Start with very small amounts of food color gel paste until desired colors are achieved.

Enjoy!

Lindy

Spring Circus Cookies

Spring Circus Cookies or Spring Easter Mother’s Circus Animal Cookies

*

Spring Circus Cookies

*1/2 cup Butter, room temperature

*1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

*1/4 cup Brown Sugar

*2 Tablespoons Honey

*4 Tablespoons Cream

*2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

*1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract

*1/2 cup White Whole Wheat Flour

*2 cups All-Purpose Flour

*1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

*1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

*1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

*1/2 cup Old Fashion Oats, chopped

*Sprinkles/Nonpariels

*
**Small or medium-sized cookie cutters of animal shapes or any shapes desired.

In stand mixer on medium-low Speed, cream together the wet ingredients; butter and sugar until light and creamy. Then drizzle in the honey while mixing and add the: Cream, vanilla, almond extract and continue mixing until combined.

*
Sift together in a mixing bowl the dry ingredients; flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. Then add the sea salt and oats and whisk together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until it forms a semi-sticky dough.

*
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide in half. Form the dough into two flat dough disks on 2 pieces of plastic wrap and wrap each dough disk and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

After refrigeration roll out each dough disk, on a floured surface a thick 1/4 inch and cutout cookies with cookie cutters. Place cut cookies on a Silpat covered baking sheet and bake the cookies in a 350 F. oven. for 6-7 minutes for small cookies and 7-8 minutes for the medium cookies. When finished baking allow the cookies to remain on the cookie sheet 2 minutes before removing to cool on baking racks.

*

Dipping Chocolate Frosting

*
*1 cup Ghirardelli White Melting Wafers

*
Melt the wafers in a double boiler or we use a glass bowl over a sauce pan filled about 1/3 full, making sure the water doesn’t tough the glass bowl. Bring to a simmer on medium-low until wafers are melted. (You can also use 1 cup of Ghirardelli White Melting Chips with 2 teaspoons of white vegetable shortening. Melt in the same way you would the melting wafers.)

*
Divide the melted vanilla chips or wafers into two bowls (Bowls that are big enough to dip one of the flat sides of each your baked cookies) and then dip cookies in the melted chips or wafers and sprinkle with sprinkles/Nonpareils. Allow cookies to dry on baking racks.

*
Store the cookies in an air tight container for 2-3 days.

See Homemade Circus Cookies for full Instructions

See Homemade Circus Cookies for full Instructions

Enjoy!

Lindy