Soft Sugar Cookies and the Outer Banks

The third week in August I took a trip to the Outer Banks with my sister and brother-in-law, their two boys, and fifteen other people. There were a total of ten “adults” and ten children, who were all under the age of five. I know what you’re thinking, “ARE YOU INSANE?!?” But it really turned out to be a great trip. We stayed in a nice house right across the street from the ocean in the Southern Shores.

Ain’t she a beauty?

My favorite part of the trip was when we all decided to go out on the beach one night to see what it was like. Were we in for a surprise. There were crabs all over the place! Luckily they were more afraid of us then we were of them. But, that didn’t stop me from screaming a lot! 

What? I’m a girl, I’m allowed to! Right? 

I made sure to keep my feet moving at all times even if the group was standing still.  I was too afraid one would crawl over them!

 

Now, onto the good stuff.

For the trip I decided to try a new recipe for sugar cookies and frosting.

 

They were a great sweet treat for everyone to snack on.

  

The nice thing about these cookies is that you probably have most of the items on hand.

 

Combine the butter, shortening and sugar together, mix until light and fluffy

 

Add in the rest of your ingrediates like the recipe states. Once all your ingredients are added and combined it should look like the picture above.

 

Roll into "walnut sized" balls, placing about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes until edges are golden.

 

While the cookies were cooling, I made the frosting to top them with. This was a really easy frosting to make. You can make any color you want, or even multiple colors. Or you can be a "plain jane" and keep the frosting white. I decided to keep it simple by sticking with one color.

 

I just used a butter knife to spread the frosting on the cookies.

 

Enjoy! I think this is a great recipe to try out with younger ones.

Soft Sugar Cookies universityofcookie
2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup room temp butter (I use salted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups AP flour

Preheat to 350°
Cream butter, shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy.
On medium speed combine the eggs and vanilla until mixed well.
Over low speed add baking powder, salt and flour and mix until it comes together.
Roll into "walnut sized" balls, placing about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet.
The dough will be sticky.
Bake 8 - 10 minutes until edges are golden.
When cookies are done let them cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes and remove to a wire cooling rack.
recipe adapted from allrecipes

While cookies are cooling make your frosting...

1/2 cup shortening
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp milk
1 t. vanilla

Cream your shortening and powdered sugar together until smooth, slowly add your milk and vanilla.
Mix until smooth.
Color your frosting if you wish and spread on top of your cookies.