Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsps. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
Directions:
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:
I like to use butter cream frosting on my cookies, thinned out a little. This recipe makes the best buttercream.
Ingredients:
- 1 c. shortening
- 1 c. margarine or butter
- 4-6 C. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla (I use clear vanilla to keep the frosting as white as it can be)
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- milk (add a little at a time to the consistency that you want
Directions:
- Beat shortening and margarine until the color is almost white. This will take a few minutes
- Add powdered sugar, vanilla, almond extract and about a scant 1/4 cup milk and beat until blended. Add more milk to get to your consistency. Remember a little milk goes a long way. Add milk by tablespoons.
For my watermelon cookies, I used a biscuit cutter to cut the circles and then cut them in half. I then used a star decorating tip to put the frosting on each cookies. The seeds on the watermelon cookies are mini chocolate chips.
