Tasty Wednesday

Last week in my post Tasty Tuesday I mentioned how important kindness is, and how we all need to be kind not just at holiday time, but all through the year.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting shocked the world and , in the wake of such tragedy, many are looking for ways to help the community of Newtown Conn. An online campaign called "26 Acts of Kindness" was created not only as a way to give back to Newtown, but also as a way to impact communities around the world.

The movement focuses on selfless acts of kindness. On Facebook and Twitter, responders have been sharing their good deeds which range from large donations to small gestures. Just imagine how different our world would be if we all practiced acts of kindness every day of the year.

For this Tasty Wednesday, you will have the perfect recipe to make all those wonderful Christmas cut-out cookies. Over the years I have collected about 20 different holiday cookie cutters, which were originally brought to America by the Dutch in the 1800's.

Every year I have made these cookies with my children... now I have the pleasure of making them with my grandchildren. The kids love rolling out the dough, picking out which cookie cutters they want to use, decorating then with different colored sugars, and of course the best part, eating them.

BASIC BUTTER COOKIES

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) salted butter, softened

1 cup 1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Whisk together flour, basking powder in a small bowl

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and then add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Form dough into a ball, flatten with the palm of your hand, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Before rolling out the dough, flour the surface and the rolling-pin.. If the dough sticks to the surface add more flour. When you have rolled the dough to the desired thickness, carefully cut-out the dough with the cookies cutters. Sprinkle them with colored sugars.

Bake the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets for about 7 minutes. If you over bake them, they will be too brown, and they won't taste as good. Remember when you take the cookies out of the oven they are still cooking.

Merry Christmas!