whoops.

Yeah. I just now realized I forgot to post my gingerbread cookie and butter cookie recipes. Sorry.

As an aside, I DID use white sugar and white flour in my holiday baking this year, as well as real whole eggs. But I used Earth Balance buttery sticks whenever butter or shortening were called for. (Except in the chocolate drizzles and dips that the other two cookies called for . . . the small amount of water in the EB made my first batch of chocolate drizzle seize up. Bah. So I did use horrible trans-fat-full shortening. I should really just throw that can o' stuff out, shouldn't I?)

Gingerbread Cookies courtesy of Betty Crocker . . .

I did not, however, use their frosting. I piped little features onto the "guys" using a ziploc I had snipped the corner off, full of this icing:

Beat on high speed 5 minutes:
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 egg white
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

(Yes . . . it uses a raw egg white . . . how many times have I eaten raw cookie dough and survived? More times than I can count. But I wouldn't feed this icing to a child under 5, or an elderly person. Just a wee disclaimer.)

Here's the recipe for my Grandma Weber's butter Christmas Cookies:
(I hesitate to call them sugar coookies, because they're not terribly sweet, which makes them excellent candidates for a coating of the frosting of your choice. Don't forget the sprinkles.)

Combine:
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cut in:
1 cup butter

Stir in:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1 heaping cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill overnight before rolling out and cutting. Bake at 325 degrees until edges just begin to brown. Cool and frost.

Now, I didn't use a peppermint frosting recipe -- I just made it up. But I do have a peppermint cream frosting recipe I'll share with you if you need it!

Peppermint Cream Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 to 1/3 cups milk

Beat until smooth. Divide among small bowls or custard cups and tint with food coloing.

Happy Christmas!