So, I decided instead of buying gifts for everyone in the French family that I was with for Christmas, that I would continue the cultural exchange and make something that is always a part of Christmas for me: Christmas Sugar Cookies.
The recipe, which I got from my mom, is simple enough:
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1 cup (225g) sugar
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1 cup (225g) butter or margarine, softened
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3 tablespoons milk
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1 teaspoon vanilla
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1 egg
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3 cups (330g) flour
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1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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In large bowl, combine sugar, butter/margarine, milk, vanilla and egg. Blend well. Stir in baking powder, salt and flour. Mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate 1 hour for easier handling. (I found it works better if you refrigerate overnight, as well as between batches.)
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On lightly floured surface, roll out 1/3 of dough to 1/8 inch thickness. (Keep remaining dough refridgerated.) (I had issues with rolling, so I gave up and flattened with my flour-covered hands, and it was much more efficient.) Cut dough with cookie cutters dipped sugar*. Place on ungreased cookie sheets (Can be useful if there is a little flour on the sheet. Also, if you have a convection oven, you can use a metal pie tin, like me, since it is too small to fit a cookie sheet.) 1 inch apart. You can top with sprinkles or candies.
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Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 9 minutes or until edges are light brown. (175ºC in my convection oven for 9-10 minutes depending on thickness of dough.) Immediately remove from cookie sheets.TIP: For ease in cutting, dip cookie cutters in sugar before each cut. (That is a helpful hint for the second round of cutting, as the sugar won’t stick to the cookie cutters if there is not already dough… at least in my experience.)
And now, what better way to tell this store than pictures?! (Click on the picture to expand and see captions. Once expanded you can use your left and right arrow keys to scroll through images.)