Cookies Galore!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, I know we sure did at our house.  We started by making tea cakes on Christmas Eve Eve with our family.  I used a recipe that my Grandmother dubbed as Joe's Tea Cakes (Joe being my Dad).  The recipe is straight forward, simple, and absolutely delicious!  Growing up we decorated cookies for every occasion and passed them out to friends and family as gifts.  Lucky for me, I have a huge collection of cookie cutters, so we can continue the tradition in the years to come.

 My nephew and I started out the afternoon by making batches of cookies and baking them so we would have cooled cookies ready to decorate when the crowd arrived.  We picked out our various cutters, and began slowly but surely rolling out the dough and peeling out the cookies one by one.  Many batches later we had a plethora of gingerbread men, stockings, candy canes, santa clauses, and initials for each family member.  I mixed up some icing and the fun began.

 Of course no one can expect a 6 and 7 year old to simply decorate cookies cookies all night so the night turned into a hide the christmas elf party/ wrestle mania 2011.  By the end of the night, each child had cookies for santa and anyone else with a sweet tooth, and memories to last a lifetime!  I know we will be looking forward to the next holiday so we can whip up another batch of fun.  Enjoy the pictures and recipe below, and look for our next post coming soon!

                                    Joe's Tea Cakes
3 eggs                                          
1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup of sugar                                    
1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of shortening                        
1 Tablespoon of baking powder

2-4 cups of flour depending on how stiff you need the cookies

350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes*

*watch cookies and when edges begin to brown remove from oven

Cream the shortening, vanilla, sugar, and eggs until throughly blended.  Add sifted flour, baking powder, and salt and blend.  If using cookie cutters add more flour for stiff cookies or ball up and put in the fridge for an hour or so.  I knead in extra flour after rolling out until the dough is stiff enough to work with.  Roll out of floured surface, cut, bake, and enjoy!  I tend to keep a cup of flour besides me and keep all dough surfaces powdered to avoid sticky surfaces.  Flour is your friend!!  To make icing simply add a few spoonfuls of confectioners sugar, 5 mL of water, and desired food coloring.  I use my daughters medicine syringes to slowly add water to get the right consistency.  It is     quite easy to add to much water so go slowly and mix well.  I bought some cheap simple craft brushes to use for icing the cookies.  Also wait until the cookies are completely cooled before decorating.