Sugar Cookie Recipe

I wish I could give credit to the mastermind behind this recipe, but I found it online one day a while back and it's changed sugar-cookie-making for me FOREVER.  It's actually enjoyable now:

Preheat 400 degrees and lightly grease cookie sheets.


1 1/2c Sugar
2/3c Shortening or butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/4c Flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl cream shortening and sugar. Add the eggs, extract, and milk. In med bowl mix dry ingredients with wire whisk. Add dry ingredients to large bowl. Mix with mixer until well combined. Here's the big secret that makes sugar cookie making tolerable!!!! Split the dough in half, and roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to about 1/4" thickness. Take the dough IN the paper and put on a cookie sheet and put in freezer. Go back and roll about the 2nd half. By the time you go to the freezer again, the 1st half is ready to cut out. If you weren't planning on getting to it right away, put it in the fridge instead. I dip my cutters in a smidge of flour - but that's it - no piles of flour everywhere - I love it.

Seashell Wedding Shower Cake

This is a 2-tier bridal shower cake. Both tiers are two-layer chocolate cake with cookies-and-cream filling. They are iced smooth with white buttercream icing. The shells are pink and white chocolate dusted with edible pearl dust. The pink band is tinted pink icing iced smooth and outlined with plastic pearls. The coral was made from royal icing.

This was a fun one!

Nolan's Soccer Cake

Nolan's 4th Birthday cake was a soccer cake. The base was a single-layer chocolate 10x14 sheet cake. The soccer ball was vanilla cake all covered in buttercream icing stars. The soccer players are sugar cookies covered in royal icing and royal icing soccer balls.

My Little Pony Cake

Cammy's 6 year Birthday Cake - PONIES PONIES PONIES. Cam has gone Pony-happy this year and wants to top it off with a My Little Pony cake. I pulled out one of her coloring books and traced the images with tinted royal icing to make the pony decorations. She stood over me the entire time to make sure I used the "correct" colors.