Sugar Cookies for Every Season

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla (you can also use almond extract)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla. Sift flour, salt, baking powder; add to wet mixture. Chill at least one hour. The dough is easier to cut into shapes when cold. Bake at 375º` for about 8 minutes. Keep an eye on them so as not to burn. Makes 3 dozen cookies. Dough freezes really well.

White Chocolate Frosting

4 two-ounce squares of white chocolate
1/4 cup of whipping cream
Food coloring (I used red to make red and pink frosting and then kept some of it white for our Valentine's Day cookies.)

Microwave chocolate and whipping cream in glass bow at 50% for about 3 minutes, stirring once. Add food coloring to achieve desired color. Warm in microwave if frosting hardens.

Cupcake Cookies

I made these "cupcakes" for Rachel Marie's first birthday. We weren't having a party on the weekend of her big day, so I just wanted something simple. We'd also had one of those days and the last thing I wanted to do was slave away in the kitchen. I adapted this recipe from one I'd clipped from an old issue of Parents magazine. They were delicious, fun for the kiddos to eat, and very easy. Enjoy!



Ingredients
1-17.5. ounce box of sugar cookie
Chocolate pudding (I made Instant Jell-O pudding using two-percent milk.)
Strawberries
Whipped cream




Directions
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Prepare cookies as directions on box indicate. Generously coat a 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable cooking spray. Drop a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough into each cup. Press dough into bottom and up the sides of cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately reshape cookies into the cups, using the back of a spoon to press them along the pan. Let cool for 10 minutes. Fill cups with pudding and add whipped cream, if desired. Top with fruit.