Baking buddies

Something about being great with child makes me want to bake. A lot. Christmastime encourages this kind of behavior, which may serve to explain the excessive baking going on in our home in spite of the fact that I'm still in my first trimester. 

Who better to join me in my culinary adventures than another pregnant mommy with time to kill on a Friday morning? And that, friends, is how most of my kitchen, my entire dining room, and two-thirds of my small children got dusted with flour.

The mess was well worth it. The cookies were fabulous, but the friendship is better. 

World's Greatest Sugar Cookies

(adapted from peppermintplum.blogspot.com)

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

5 3/4 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Combine salt, baking soda and flour and add to mixture. If dough is sticky, chill it for a bit in the fridge before working with it.

Roll out dough on floured surface to about a quarter inch thick. (Don't make them too thin. I'm serious about this.) Use cookie cutters to make some really cute designs. Or do what we did...dye half the dough red and spend the rest of the morning trying to figure out how to make cookies that look like candy canes.

Use a spatula to carefully place each cookie on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes. Not a minute more. Take them out before they look done or start to brown on the edges and you'll have some amazingly soft and delicious cookies.

Transfer to cooling rack after five minutes. Frost when fully cooled.

Peppermint glaze

(adapted from food.com)

2 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tbsp light corn syrup

4 tbsp water

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Stir sugar, corn syrup, peppermint and water together. (Makes 1 cup glaze.)

Glaze will be thin and clear. If desired, add food coloring to create colored glaze. Stir in food coloring a few drops at a time until you reach the color desired. If peppermint's not your thing, substitute vanilla extract instead.

Unused glaze can be stored for a few days and must be stirred well each time you use it.