Flag Cookies

For Veteran's Day, or any other American holiday,  I make these.

Now, if you're like me, you have a problem with most sugar cookie dough. It NEVER keeps it's shape, no matter what tricks or alterations you've tried. They get too big, loose their shape, or keep the shape but get burned...etc. Don't you hate that? I know I do! I've even tried store bought dough to see if that made a difference. It didn't. At least not for me when it comes to cut-out shapes.

I discovered this recipe when I was making cookies to help my now 2yr old daughter potty train. She was 18 months at the time, so cookies helped. I made a batch of these every week for 3wks for her in december of 2012. She was potty trained before she hit 19 months! :)

Anyway, these are not a "sweet" sort of sugar cookie (though feel free to add more sugar if you want - up to 3 cups). I decorate these with Royal Icing to make up for the lack of sweet in the cookie. These are also not crispy sugar cookies (though you can make them that way, just roll them out thinner). They are a soft sugar cookie. I can't promise you'll like them because of that. I CAN promise that they hold their shape. It's also the most basic recipe you will probably ever see. You need:

2 Eggs
1& 1/4 cup sugar
1& 1/4 cup of butter at room temp ( aka - 2 1/2 sticks of butter)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 &1/4 cup flour - plus more. You will have to add more. Keep this handy!
1 cup whole milk


First, put the sugar and eggs in the bowl. USE A SPOON - this is important. Mixers will over work the batter and dough. Make sure the eggs and sugar are mixed well.Once you have this mixed, add the butter and milk. Mix until the milk is incorporated and the butter is lumpy - it does not have to be smooth. The butter will not dissolve all the way and thats okay.

Now, add the flour and the baking powder. Mix and mix and mix............

You want to keep adding flour and mixing it - with the spoon- until the dough starts to get lumpy looking and stick together by lightly pulling away from the sides of the bowl. You can add up to 6 cups of flour, but only add 2 cups at a time and mix well after each addition. I only needed 4 1/2 cups. It should be sticky and holding itself together for the most part.

Flour your counter and dump the dough onto the counter. Flour your hands and sprinkle some on top of the dough and form it into a smooth ball, so its not lumpy at all. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for an hour. You can leave it in there longer, but it needs to be in there about an hour to chill and become more firm. After that, you can take it out, and roll it to 1/8 inch thick. Make sure you flour the counter and the rolling pin before you start to roll out the dough or it WILL stick! Use the flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the pin. You can even sprinkle the dough and roll it that way if you want to.

I'm using star cookie cutters here, but you obviously can use any type you want - hearts, flowers, stockings, snowmen, clovers... whatever. :) Cut the cookies out and make sure you put them 2 inchs apart on a cookie sheet. They plump when baked.

This recipe makes a LOT of cookies. I made 5 1/2 dozen ( I was using a medium sized cookie cutter). If you use smaller or bigger cutters you'll obviously get more or less cookies.

Bake at 350 for 8 -10 minutes for soft cookies. If you want slightly harder/crisper cookies, do 10-12 minutes. Just watch they don't burn!!  I made a batch of Royal Icing and tinted it two colors. Left 1/3 white, and did 1/3 red, and 1/3 blue. Covered the cookies in the white first, then once that set (about 20 minutes), I dipped them in the blue and reds. I made 1/4 of them blue/white, 1/4 red/white, 1/4 plain white and the last 1/4 were, of course, red, white and blue. Let the frosting dry completely, about 20 minutes, before storing or eating.