I cannot prove that my cookie baking has made my children, or nieces and nephews love me more, but it certainly hasn’t make them love me less. So, once again, as a public service to you moms out there who never seem to be able to do enough for your kids, I am giving you my favorite sugar cookie recipe. Gramma Ev’s Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies. Although they’re not as easy as buying some, or cutting up the Pillsbury ones, they taste a whole lot better.
Gramma Ev was my college roomate’s kickass grandmother, who used to send us boxes of these sugar cookies every Christmas. They had the teeniest aroma of cigarette smoke because Gramma Ev enjoyed a puff or two. But we never cared, we devoured them as college-age women with really great metabolism tend to do. You can read more about Gramma Ev and her darling granddaughter in this post I wrote years ago about The Power of a Sugar Cookie.
I’ve seen professional decorators outline sugar cookies with piping bags, to make sure the outlines are perfect, then tediously fill in the centers. God bless them. They clearly have no other full time job. For the rest of you, go ahead, use a butter knife and just be careful around the edges. They’ll look a little more homemade, but trust me, your kids WILL NOT care. And I like that they look homemade. It shows that someone took time to make them, but only HAD so much time, so the cookies are that much more special. (That’s my rationalization and I’m sticking with it.)
So, please have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Go buy yourself flowers if you don’t have a special someone. That’s what I do every year and I love them just as much as if Pierce Brosnan had sent them to me. (Well, maybe slightly less, but you get the idea.) Be your own best Valentine. You deserve it. And if you have time, bake the cookies. Everyone loves them.
Gramma Ev’s Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder, in a large bowl and salt and set it aside. In another bowl.
Cut in the softened butter with a pastry cutter until it resembles fine crumbs.
Mix together the evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla and add it to the butter and flour mixture. Mix it together with your hands until it forms a smooth ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for an hour. (I've baked them without chilling them and they always turn out fine, but I've also let them chill overnight and they turn out fine too, they're just harder to roll out, but soften up as you roll them.)
Lightly flour a surface and cut a chunk of the dough off. Working it with your hands flatten it out on the floured surface, then roll it with a rolling pin until it's about an eighth of an inch thick. I like them a little thicker, but It's up to you. Then bake them at 400 degrees for six minutes. Remove them from the pan and place them on a sheet of aluminum foil to cool. This makes a fair number of cookies, I'm going to say around 3 dozen at least, so be ready to do some icing.
Melt the butter then add the confectioners sugar, the vanilla and the half and half or whipping cream. Whisk with a whisk until smooth. Add salt to taste. Then ice the cookies