Christmas Baking and cooking...

  Last year, on the 1st of December, I went to my friend's house to bake and go sledding. This year my that same friend's sister and I decided to do this again this year. We tried for the 1st, but that didn't happen, so we ended up setting the date for the 5th.
  We made pesto swirl bread, pesto chicken pasta, and salad for dinner...
 

       

Then we made chocolate mousse for dessert...

And THEN we made some sugar cookies... Just for the sake of it being December...

 

Iced Sugar Cookies

Adapted from Myrecipes.com and from the December 2011 issue of Cooking Light .

Ingredients

Cookies:
9 ounces all-purpose flour (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons egg white powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water
Additional ingredient:
Sparkling sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare cookies, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and baking powder, stirring with a whisk. Place butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, and beat until well blended. Beat in vanilla extract. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture to butter mixture; beat just until combined.
3. Shape dough into a 4-inch round, and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out 40 (2 x 3-inch) cookies, rerolling scraps as necessary. Place cookies 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 9 minutes or until lightly browned on bottoms. Cool on a wire rack.
4. To prepare icing, combine powdered sugar, egg white powder, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, stirring well. Gradually add 2 tablespoons water, stirring constantly with a whisk until smooth. Decorate cookies as desired. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Let the cookies stand on a cooling rack until icing is completely dry (about 1 hour).

~  <3 ichelle