Cut-out Sugar Cookies

Sundays are quickly becoming my day to cook. Which is fine by me as I do enjoy it and it's kind of my way of winding down before having to begin yet annother week of work and shuttling the boys home from school in the afternoons (before I know it, spring will be here and so will baseball season and yet another stop before home each day). I promised my youngest Chef-in-Training that we would make cut-out cookies this weekend. My go-to recipe is a very simple Sugar Cookie that I have been making since high school (I think... maybe before then), and we'll just say it's been quite a long time. I don't know the original source of the recipe, but my Mom is the one who started me baking this particular cookie. They bake up nicely and are soft on the inside but slightly crisp on the outside.

I have even been known to put the ingredients together out of order and it still turns out just fine. I would say that it is necessary to sift the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda together, otherwise the texture of the cookie is not quite the same. You can ice these cookies if you like, or just decorate with colored sugars or sprinkles. Today, I decided to try a cream cheese and preserve mixture to make a couple into sandwich style cookies... the idea was good, but I think the cream cheese needs to be REALLY soft so that it will blend better next time. Or just skip that and put some yummy icing inside, that would work just as well.

As you can see below, my 2 Chefs-in-Training had a blast cutting out the cookies and then decorating them. We'll have some very happy tummies soon as I let them try one. The hard part will be keeping them at one!

Baking cookies is serious business.

A very happy Chef-in-Training.

Decorating the cookies is the fun part!

You can only imagine the happiness these cookies are going to bring once they are baked!