Santa’s Favorite Recipe for the Big Night

Date: December 22, 2015 » posted by admin » Comments: No Comments Tags: , , ,

I have a new Director of Catering & Events named Anna Parker.  She was telling me about how excited her three children get to make the cookies to leave out for Santa.  They plan out what cookies they want to bake a couple days before Christmas Eve.  Their favorite part is to decorate the sugar cookies with sprinkles.  They leave them on a cute red and white plate just for Santa.   Since I’m a caterer, I’ve baked plenty of sugar cookies.  I always like to try new recipes but when it comes to sugar cookies the traditional frosted sugar cookie is always a hit.

Use this recipe to make delicious, chewy sugar cookies.

Ingredients
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 cup softened butter
1.5 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 TB buttermilk
sprinkles or colored sugar for decorating

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in dry ingredients.  Add enough of the buttermilk to moisten the dough and make it soft, not wet.

Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  With a brush, moisten the top of each cookie with the remaining buttermilk and slightly flatten the top of each cookie.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden.  Let stand for 2 minutes before removing to cool on a rack.

Icing Ingredients
One 12 ounce box confectioners’ sugar
3 TB meringue powder
1/3 cup warm water
food coloring
assorted sprinkles/toppings

In a medium bowl combine the confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and warm water with a wire whisk.  Stir until the icing is smooth.  Adjust consistency of the icing by adding more sugar or more water, if needed.  Add food coloring, if desired.  Spread the icing on top of cooled sugar cookie and decorate.

Don’t forget to leave a nice, cold glass of milk along with the cookies for Santa!