Butter Cookies

My latest quest was for snowflake cookie cutters. My quest completed, I decided to make some cookies. I'm not a cookie person, I'm a cake person. I'm also not a decorator, but I have always wanted to make some really simple iced sugar cookies. I found a really simple recipe for butter cookies and icing and tried it out yesterday. Simple enough and they were a big hit at Otto's football gathering last night. Damn, I can't believe the Cowboys lost. Just sad. The one time I decide to watch the game it was totally lame.

Butter Cookies

1 c. softened butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 Tbl. lime juice
1 Tbl. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder (or is it soda)

1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Beat in egg, lime juice and vanilla.
3. Mix in flour.
4. Divide batter into thirds, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate 3-4 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
6. Working with one batch of dough at a time (leaving the others in the refrigerator), roll out dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.
7. Cut cookies out of dough and place on baking sheet.
8. Bake 7-10 minutes--just until edges start to brown (thinner, smaller cookies cook faster).
9. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes then remove from pan.
10. When cookies are fully cooled--decorate as desired.

For the frosting I just mixed together some butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. I think next time I'm going to try a more traditional royal icing recipe with egg whites. Knowing his love of sculpture I gave the last lump of dough to Ross to play with. He made a Wall-E cookie and and Eve cookie. The Wall-E turned out really well. No secrets here--this recipe is from Land o Lakes. I just changed the oj to lj. If I make another batch this week with a different frosting I'll be sure and post the results.