Secret Recipe Club Cookie Carnival

Our Secret Recipe Club normally assigns two groups to November and two groups to December during the holidays so that the bloggers do not get overwhelmed with the busyness of the season. 

This is a very nice and thoughtful gesture but some of us (me) find our time in the kitchen relaxing during the hustle and bustle of the season and did not want to miss a month of SRC.  So the powers that be (Sarah) had mercy on us and went through the trouble of putting together a special SRC edition of just Cookies.  I told you this was the best club in the world!!

This is just like a regular SRC in that we are given a blogger to spy on and steal a recipe from but this time we can only steal cookie recipes.  I was assigned Sarah, of The Pajama Chef.  Sarah is a librarian by trade and loves to bake.  I was very lucky to get her blog because her earliest memories are of baking Christmas cookies with her grandma.  Perfect when you are assigned a sneaky cookie challenge.  Sarah also loves to run which explains how she can love cookies and still look like a million bucks. 

Sarah had nearly 25 different cookie recipes in her recipe file.  I got a sugar rush just reading them all!  I am sure that I am going to go back soon and try the Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies and the Peppermint Sugar Cookies but for today's challenge I chose her Classic Sugar Cookies.

I had bought a Snowflake Cookie Cutter and then received this great gift from OXO in response to another cookie swap that I joined.So I was looking for a rolled cookie recipe and this sounded like it would be perfect for the job.  This was Sarah's mom's recipes and we all know that you cannot go wrong with a recipe from mom.  

And this recipe did not disappoint.

I divided the dough into 2 sections, flattened them into discs and refrigerated.

Took out the discs, one at a time, rolled them out on parchment.

I use parchment instead of a floured surface so the cookies don't get tough.

The cookie dough was very stiff for a couple of minutes but became nice and pliable as I worked with it.

I cut my sugar cookies pretty thick and they still baked to perfection in the time written.

One or two broke as I was removing them to the cooling rack.

That meant Frank and I had to eat them.....DANG!!!!

They were delicious, even without the frosting.

A perfect butter cookie.

Sarah included a frosting recipe with her cookie recipe, however I used this one as I had used it in the past with good results.

Classic Sugar Cookies

slightly adapted from The Pajama Chef

3 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 c. butter, softened

3 T. heavy cream

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar, gradually add flour and baking powder until incorporated.  Add egg, vanilla and cream mix until soft dough forms.  Divide dough in half and flatten into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake but at least for one hour.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375*.  Remove one disc at a time from the refrigerator.  Place the disc upon parchment paper and roll to desired thickness.  Cut into desired shapes and place on a cold, ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.  When cool decorate as desired.

Print Recipe

Unfortunately, for some reason my link up to the other cookie blogs will not work so please go here to get a complete listing of the cookies and recipes.