Grandma Arleen's Cookies

A week or so I mentioned that I bought a set of cookie cutters so I can make flower cookies for our wedding favors. I was pumped about them because I used my 40% off J0-Ann's coupon and got them for cheap! Every once in a while they will send me a 10% off your entire purchase, but that hasn't happened in a while.... man!!! Anyways, here are the cookie cutters I bought:

I'm testing out recipes for our cookies. First of all, I wanted to see how the flower cookie cutters would work. Second, I wanted to compare cookie recipes. Finally, I wanted to see how bright I could get the frosting to look. The cookies need to be BRIGHT yellow, orange, and pink. Ed just loves cookies, so he is more than willing to eat anything I bake. The first recipe I used was for my Grandma Arleen's Sour Cream Cookies. My grandma passed away when I was two, so my mom has made these cookies every year to help us keep her memory alive. Anyways, I love them! Here's the recipe if anyone is interested and the final product! I used the three biggest cutters for these. The pink one is the biggest and quite the cookie! I think we're going to go with the yellow size.

Grandma Arleen's Sour Cream Cookies

1 C. Sugar 1 C. Sour Cream

3 C. Four 1 Egg, beaten

1 tsp. Salt 1/4 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Baking Soda 1 Tbl. Real Lemon Juice

1 C. Butter, firm (Mix these liquids together)

Sift together dry ingredients and cut in butter. Stir liquid ingredients into flour/butter mixture. Use hands to form into a ball of dough. Chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface to a scant 1/4" thickness. Don't roll too thin though! Bake for 6 min. on a greased or paper lined cookie sheet. Don't overbake-watch carefully.

Frosting

2 1/2 C. Sifted Powdered Sugar

2 Tbl. Butter, melted

3 Tbl. Milk

1 Tbl. Lemon Juice

2 drops of Lemon Extract

Stir together till smooth. Frost cookies and enjoy!

I'm going to try and make more cookies as soon as these are devoured! Cross your fingers that we can have these as our wedding favors. I read that our reception site won't allow your guests to consume food on the premise that has been made somewhere else. I hope I can still bake these!

Oh, and for those of you who are aspiring bakers, I bought the coolest cookbook yesterday. Again, I was at Jo-Ann's getting things for the wedding. I found myself with a 50% off coupon, but everything in the store was on sale! I had to search hard to find something. Low and behold I found this baking cookbook that I have had my eyes on. It's called Anyone Can Bake from Better Home's and Garden's. It's amazing! I already know how to bake, but it has really cool directions with pictures on how to do virtually EVERYTHING related to baking. The recipes are great because they range in skill level. I think I fall somewhere in the middle, so this is perfect for me!

There's also a cooking version, Anyone Can Cook, that I ordered on Amazon last night because I liked this baking one so much! Ed and I love cooking together, so I'm looking forward to getting this in the mail tomorrow!

The newly-to-be wed,

Rachel