Family Recipe Friday: Grandma's Sugar Cookies

Grandma LeMaster with Rachael, Ally & Ashley, 2010

Several years ago I started baking  and decorating Christmas cookies with my four granddaughters.   We do it on the Sunday before Christmas so their parents could wrap gifts and do some last minute shopping.   It seems it has become a tradition that the four girls don't want to give up.   They enjoy cutting out and decorating the cookies.   As they have gotten older, I've noticed how creative they can be.   Naturally, I wanted a sugar cookie that tastes good and this seems to be the one they like:

Christmas Sugar Cookies  

    1 1/4 cups sugar                                               
    1 cup Crisco Butter Flavored Shortening                        
    2 eggs                                                         
    1/4 cup light corn syrup or                                    
    Pancake syrup                                                  
    1 tablespoon vanilla extract                                   
    3 cups flour                                                   
    3/4 teaspoon baking powder                                     
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda                                       
    1/2 teaspoon salt               

                               

Combine sugar and Butter Flavored Crisco in large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until well blended.  Add eggs, syrup, and vanilla.  Beat until well blended and fluffy.  Add flour, baking powder, soda, and salt to creamed mixture at low speed.  Mix until well blended.  Divide dough into 4 quarters.  TIP:  If dough is too sticky or too soft to roll: wrap each quarter of dough with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Roll dough on floured pastry cloth or spread 1 tablespoon of flour on large sheet of waxed paper.  Place 1/4 of dough on floured paper.  Flatten slightly with hands.  Turn dough over and cover with another large sheet of waxed paper.  Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness.   Cut out with floured cutter.  Transfer to ungreased baking sheet.  Place 2 in. apart.  Sprinkle with granulated sugar or colored sugar crystals, or leave plain to frost when cooled.   Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 for 5-9 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies,  (bake smaller, thinner cookies closer to 5 minutes; larger cookies closer to 9 minutes.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.  Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet.  Cool completely, then frost if desires.  Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Family Recipe Friday – is an opportunity to share your family recipes with fellow bloggers and foodies alike. Whether it’s an old-fashioned recipe passed down through generations, a recipe uncovered through your family history research, or a discovered recipe that embraces your ancestral heritage share them on Family Recipe Friday. This series was suggested by Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist.