Growing up, we always thought our mom made the best sugar cookies. Then, one day she came back from a baby shower with a sugar cookie that was given as a party favor. She raved about how good it was, so we all cut off a bite so we could see what she was so excited about. That was the first time we thought someone out there made better sugar cookies than our mom! We decided to search for sugar cookie recipes online, and found one that had sour cream in it. We realized that might be the secret ingredient. We tried it, and it was a winnner! It was just like the one from the shower - only better! Since then, we've used this recipe to make hundreds, if not thousands of sugar cookies for many occasions.
*It's been awhile since we've found this recipe, but we're pretty sure it was from allrecipes.com.
Sugar Cookies
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt (opt.)
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 ½ cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup sour cream
Sift flour, powder, soda, salt – set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar. Beat in egg, sour cream, & vanilla. Add sifted ingredients. Wrap dough and chill overnight (or for a few hours).
Roll out dough, making cookies ¼ inch thick.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Makes about 3-4 dozen.
For the frosting, we just use the recipe on the back of the C&H Powdered Sugar box:
5 Minute Buttercream Frosting
1 lb. box of C&H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 stick salted butter, softened (we usually use less than this)
Countdown to Christmas
i know, i know...it is not even halloween yet. however, here is a project you can get started on right now and have it ready by christmas. this is my kids' favorite christmas tradition. i collected 24 red and green socks (mostly toddler socks from old navy) and clipped them on a red rope with numbered clothespins. each morning the sock contained a little gift. so get on it and start shopping for socks.
Chore Chart
this summer i made a chore chart for my kids. that way they would know exactly what they needed to do each day. it became a great routine that they stuck to all summer. we hung it on the refrigerator so we could all see what they needed to do and what they had accomplished. i bought the pockets at the dollar store. there was a pocket for the things they needed to do, one for what they had finished, and one for their big weekly chore. i printed words or pictures telling them what their job was. then i punched it in a circle shape and glued it to a popsicle stick. each child had about ten chores per day according to their ability and then two big jobs they were in charge of all week. the weekly chores were rotated each monday.
Pictures + Books
i love putting pictures everywhere. but my entertainment center was getting too cluttered with so many frames. i love how books displayed in magazines always seem to go together. mine always seem mismatched. i was inspired by a picture in a pottery barn magazine and decided to cover my books with blown up photos. now i still can display lots of photos and my books look like they go together. i used group photos and picked one person in the group to show on the spine of the book.
Ribbon Holder
do you love buying ribbon as much as me? i always buy some "just in case" i ever need that color. plus it looks pretty sitting on my shelf. i have been putting mine in jars but most of the time i need the ribbon at the very bottom. so i have to dump the whole jar out. so we made these holders. the ribbon is much easier to get to. the bottom is precut unfinished wood from hobby lobby. we drilled holes to stick the dowels in and bought round dowel toppers to put on top (also from hobby lobby). we put all of our christmas ribbon on one so when are wrapping presents it's all right there. the kids have one just for their ribbon too.
An Apple A Day
we love making (and eating) sugar cookies. there are so many cute cookie cutters. you can make a cookie to go with every occasion. these cute apple cookies were for the girls to give their teachers. there's nothing wrong with a little brown nosing!
Curl Power
have you tried this? i love trying new make-up products. i have tried many of the mascaras at sephora. i have liked some and not liked some but never loved any. i was in desperate need of new mascara and i happened to be at wal-mart. i called my sister and asked if there were any mascaras that she had tried and liked. she told me about some maybelline mascaras that she has tried. this was one of those. it has a clear primer that you apply first (we love primers) that makes the black easier to apply. the two coats together stay all day and never flakes. don't forget to curl your eyelashes first and make them really pop! try it...you might like it!
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