Halloweenie Sugar Cookies

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My mom comes from a large Ukrainian family. Large as in my grandmother had 17 siblings! My great-grandparents came to Canada in the late 1800’s and were given free land in the town of Alder Flats, Alberta. They were true pioneers and soon realized that their “free” land required a lot of stump and rock removal. This kind of hard labour worked up quite an appetite, and if Ukrainians are known for one thing, it’s their comfort food! Perogies, cabbage rolls and cookies of course!

My favourite childhood cookie was the humble sugar cookie. It’s my mom’s auntie’s recipe and it was a holiday staple! While the recipe is called "Auntie Sophie's Sugar Cookies" the irony is that her husband Steve was the one who actually baked them! He was known for getting so greasy working on cars and tractors on the farm that he’d wash his hair in kerosene. That’s why the image of Uncle Steve in the kitchen, rolling out dough and baking these sweet and simple cookies puts a smile on my face.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup butter

3 lg. eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

3 cups A.P. flour

HOW TO:

1.) Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy

2.) Add the vanilla and mix.

3.) Add eggs one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each addition

4.) In a separate bowl mix salt and baking powder in with the flour

5.) Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions to the wet mixture

6.) Make 2 flat balls out the dough and chill for 30 minutes or so

7.) Roll the dough out on a floured surface using a floured rolling pin

8.) Cut out whatever shapes you want and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet about 1- 1.5" apart

9.) bake 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven until *a little* golden around the very edges of the cookie

10.) Ice them however you like. (Recipe below)

BASIC Sugar Cookie ICING

INGREDIENTS & HOW TO:

1.) Mix 2 cups of icing sugar with 2 tbsp. and 2 tsp. of milk

2.) Add *drops* of milk until you get the consistency you want (not too runny, not too stiff)

3.) Spread the icing on your cookies and use whatever sprinkles you like.

4.) You can also pipe this icing on with a decorating tip

NOTES:

*If you are adding food colouring, keep in mind that liquid food colouring will thin out your icing, so add the colour when the icing is a bit thicker.

*You can always add more icing sugar to thicken it up if it's too runny.

*The cookies will need to sit out overnight to set (they will stick together if you put them away too soon)