A Treat for your Sweet

Here is a last minute treat to make for your sweet before the big day on Saturday. I know sugar cookies are nothing new during Valentines Day but I promise you these are not your average run of the mill sugar cookie.

My Mother-In-Law makes the best sugar cookies in the world, and so the story goes that Starbucks themselves offered to buy the recipe from her and sale them in their stores but she declined.  And all you of lucky ducks who have decided it would be a good idea to subscribe to my blog are going to get the famous recipe for Free. I checked with her before posting it to the internet and being the gracious person she is she said "what is mine is yours"

 However there is something in the way she does it that will always make hers superior to others. Mine never taste as good and I even have her rolling pin and kitchen aid and still no dice. You would think some of the magic would slip  out and into my cookies. No.. regardless they are still delicious and fairly easy to make.

The Recipe and tips because I had to learn the hard way what not to do.
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Ethel's Sugar Cookies

- 6 tablespoons of Butter
- 6 tablespoons of Crisco
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 /12 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine flour, baking soda and salt.

In kitchen aid Cream sugar, Crisco, and butter. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.

In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Add flour to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and mix until flour is all mixed in. I like to divide the flour mixture into three parts when mixing with the sugar.

I then chill the dough for a few minutes maybe 10-20.

Then I lay out a generous amount of flour on my counter and cover my rolling pin. I pull out small sections of dough and roll slowly. I learned the thicker the dough the better the cookie (but not too thick)

Once you've rolled and cutout that section of dough 3 times it has become too tough and is not worth making a cookie out of. I just go ahead and throw out the small scraps. This is why it is important to only take out a few small sections of dough at a time.

Bake at 400 or 380 for gas ovens for 6-8 minutes. The time really just depends on your oven and how you like your cookies. I've found that 6 to 6 1/2 minutes is the perfect amount of time.