Rollout Sugar Cookies

Yesterday was Libby's last day of school until January, so we are in Christmas vacation mode at our house. She is determined to squeeze in a million activities while on break, and decorating sugar cookies was at the top of her list.

I must admit, I groaned a little when she told me this. I really don't like rolling out cookie dough, but this recipe was surprisingly easy! The dough holds together quite well and shakes free of the cookie cutters without disintegrating. I was quite pleased! (I also utilized a pastry cloth and rolling pin cover. That made the rolling much easier! I highly recommend it!)

I didn't include a recipe for icing. We just used MSPI-friendly store-bought icing, but there are several recipes on the internet available. Just use MSPI-friendly margarine and rice milk instead of butter and milk. There's also a glaze-like icing recipe included on the page where I found the original recipe for these cookies.

Now these cookies won't win any awards for being the best tasting or best looking, but my kids had a fun, fun time decorating them and we will share this sweet memory long after the cookies disappear into our tummies. And that, my friends, is what matters! Merry Christmas!

Rollout Sugar Cookies
Source: LactoseIntolerant.org

1½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup MSPI-friendly margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond extract
1 large egg
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
½ tsp. salt

Cream together powdered sugar and margarine in a large mixing bowl. Mix in vanilla, almond extract and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Add the flour mixture slowly to the wet mixture and mix until properly combined. Cover and refrigerate four hours (or overnight) until dough is thoroughly chilled.

Remove ¼ of the dough from the bowl and return the bowl to the refrigerator. Roll the dough you removed to ¼-inch thick and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Once cookie sheet is filled, place it in the refrigerator. Continue to roll out and cut the remaining dough.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a clean cookie sheet lightly or use a Silpat. Arrange cookie cutouts that are in the refrigerator on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are just barely golden. Remove from cookie sheet to cool while baking the remaining cookies.

Decorate with MSPI-friendly icing and sprinkles. (If you prefer to skip the icing all together, you can sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar prior to baking.)

Tip: Can't use margarine because of the soy oil? Try substituting palm shortening for the margarine.