Kids in the Kitchen Wednesday: Sugar Cookies & Frosting

This past weekend, the smallest chef in the Wisconsin Test Kitchen had her best friend, Skye, over for a play date. The weather was warm enough the girls could spend plenty of time running in and out of the house, playing with the dogs and kicking the soccer ball around in the yard. One of our traditions when Skye comes over is to make cookies. This time we thought it would be fun to make cut out sugar cookies and frost them. 

We used a tried and true sugar cookie recipe and tried Bakerella's frosting recipe. The result was soft, sweet sugar cookies with a slight almond flavor, and frosting the girls tried to eat out of the mixing bowl. Warning: if you are so inclined to make these cookies for a play date- the dough needs to sit in the fridge for 2 hours- especially if you have little hands cutting the dough out with cookie cutters.

Sugar Cookies
Recipe courtesy of: http://www.designeatrepeat.com/2013/11/how-to-make-perfect-cut-out-sugar-cookies/
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Frosting
Recipe courtesy of Bakerella
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
Icing colors
Sprinkles
Cream the butter and powdered sugar together with an electric mixer.

 Once mixed, add the egg, vanilla, almond extract and baking soda. Once incorporated, add the flour in one cup portions. Once the flour is combined, remove dough from mixing bowl and place onto a floured surface. 

Knead the dough until it forms a solid ball. If the dough seems sticky, add a little extra flour. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Use a rolling pin to roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface. You're looking to get the dough to approximately 1/2" thickness.

 After using cookie cutters to cut out cookies, place them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned. 

Let cookies cool completely before frosting.

For frosting: Beat butter and vanilla using a mixer until creamy and smooth. 

Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until combined. Add milk and continue mix until combined. 

Tint icing and mix thoroughly.

 Decorate tops of cookies with frosting and sprinkles.

So here's a confession. The Wisconsin Test Kitchen is pretty pathetic when it comes to the cookie cutters we have available (hence, the reason Sawyer is cutting out cookies in fall with an Easter egg shaped cookie cutter), and we are even more pathetic when it comes to frosting colors and sprinkle options. Sprinkle options were non-existent, and for some reason the only food coloring color we had was green. Good thing there was a Packer game on this weekend! 

But, despite our lack of sprinkles and fun frosting colors, the girls had a great time making and decorating their own cookies, and Skye was excited to take a whole tray of cookies home to her family. All and all- it was a successful play date and Skye is already talking about our next cookie baking adventure. This is what weekends are all about- making memories with the little ones we love.

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew