People that bake amaze me.
If you enjoy spending time mixing things, beating things, rolling things, testing things, watching the oven with one eye and then committing to making all of the perfect finishing touches using some sort of plastic bag full of icing – you are my hero.
One time, I made a pie FROM SCRATCH and it took me multiple days and two trial runs to perfect it. For a pie. That you eat. And then it’s gone. And after I made that pie, I thought “nope, I’m never doing this again, I will BUY a nice pie next time.” Which has been my general philosophy about baking since then.
Learn to make chicken? Sure, I’m game.
Try out a crockpot? Why the heck not, bring it on!
Set your apartment on fire trying to fry something? Sounds like fun!
But when it came to baked goods, I let someone else with patience and more mad skills than I possess try it out. Or I bought it. From the store. Because I’m fancy like that. Those little pre-cut pre-rounded cookies on a tray you just throw into an oven? I’m all over that. Those I can do. Thank you Pillsbury for understanding me and appreciating my need for cookie dough. I mean honestly, who just has sugar/flour/baking soda laying around their house?! (This is not a joke. For the longest time, I did not.)
And then, this week, everything changed, life was no longer the same. All because the amazing Chesemore family, got me an amazing gift… a Nebraska cookie cutter.
People – in case you don’t know me/haven’t met me/never been around me… my love language is gifts. You buy me a gift and I just know you love me. And a Nebraska cookie cutter? That’s just the most thoughtful gift out there.
And if you give a mouse a muffin me a thoughtful gift, you’d better believe I’m not letting it go to waste. No way, no sir. So I did the only thing I could think of… I baked. I started by whipping out my baking cookbook (that was another great gift from my beloved Jillian Michaels), searching through it for a recipe for sugar cookies and then read up on all of the best practices about icing, rolling dough, etc. But really – the most helpful part? Martha Stewart was in town.
She mixes, she stirs, she bakes… She’s basically the entire reason this post exists!
No sillies, her name isn’t really Martha, but since she came to town and was game for my baking adventures, it’s going to stick as her blog name. So welcome Martha to the blog. M. Stewart is a former roommate of mine, a fantastic friend and a serious motivator and life encourager… not to mention, one of the Godliest woman I know. She’s just flipping awesome. I’m lucky to know her and super happy she came out to visit me!
Check out that cookie cutter. That’s true love right there.
We followed the recipe, we let the dough chill, we baked cookies, I learned to make real frosting and then we decorated them all.
You have no idea how much food coloring it takes to turn white frosting into red. A whole bottle. For real.
Boy oh boy did we decorate them. And who knew… I LOVE me a ziplock bag with some frosting in it! All those years of making locker signs really did pay off. Who knew that hours of cutting out construction paper, using puff paint and sprinkling glitter would come in handy sometime in my future adult life?!
I could not be more proud of myself. Selfish. I know. BUT LOOK AT THAT COOKIE!!
I’d share the recipe, but they aren’t the best I’ve ever tasted… so consider me ‘on the hunt’ for the greatest sugar cookie recipe out there. Please feel free to share if you’ve got one you love!
Because I will try again. It was fun! It’s by no means a ‘quick solution’ if you’re just need to throw something together for a block party – but if you’ve got a little time in advance and you’re wanting to really wow the crowd, I could totally pull this off. And really, who wouldn’t want to eat 100 cookies that look like this?!
The perks of having a short nickname… Can you imagine trying to get Elizabeth on that sucker?!
Oh, just me? Whoops.
