Valentine's Day Cookies - trial run

I am in charge of baking 22 of something for my son’s class party.
No big deal.
I love to bake, and make treats for his class.
This year I gave him the choice of cupcakes or cookies.
He wants cookies.
Sweet!
My head began to whirl with wonderful visions of beautifully decorated cookies. No problem I tell myself, it will be easy. The thing is I have never made or decorated cookies with royal icing.

My boys do not like anything on their cut out cookies... no sprinkles, no icing, no decorations of any kind. Just a simple plain cut out cookie. There nothing wrong with a plain cookie, but sometimes you just want a little something on top.

I feel I am up for the challenge given to me but….

I figured I had better try a test run of cookies (did that this past weekend). Otherwise, knowing myself I would be in melt down mode over the cookies not coming out right or not having enough cookies/icing made. This would not be a pretty sight.

I only had a tiny bit of powdered sugar in the house; I figured I would not use it all. Was I ever wrong. (Mental note has been made to buy a few extra bags for the next round.) My icing was a wee bit on the runny side and took forever to dry. (See my son’s fingerprint in the cookie.) This trial run was a one of my better ideas.

In the end, they looked pretty good, tasted great and the practice under my belt.

I’m ready… I think.

This is our Sugar Cookie (Cut-Out Cookie) Recipe:

They are overly sweet and make a perfect cookie every time.

Cream together:

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

Beat in:

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Last add:

2 1/2 cups of sifted flour

Add the flour a little at a time. Mix until all ingredients are well blended. Chill dough for 3-4 hours.
Pre-heat oven (when ready) to 350 degrees.
Roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters.
Decorate with colored sugar or sprinkles-if desired.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until barely colored.
Cool.
They can be frosted with royal icing or eaten plain.