Christmas Butter Cookie Cut-Outs and Frosting

1# butter
1# confectioners sugar
6 eggs
1 T. vanilla
6 or 7 cups of flour
1/2 t. baking powder mixed with flour

Soften butter, add sugar and cream. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour.

Mix all very well. Chill thoroughly, preferably overnight. Roll very thin, cut with cookie cutters and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Watch carefully. Cool and Frost.

Now for the tips:

When you roll out these cookies take a grapefruit size of the dough and roll it out on a well floured surface. Put the remaining dough back in the refrigerator as it will not roll out easily if it is not chilled. You will have to add more flour to the surface before you are done rolling out the batch of cookies. It is best to have 2 people doing this. One to roll and cut and one to work the ovens. Especially if you make more than one batch at a time. (Unless you are Hilary and have to do it all by herself--she may need a medal for tackling this all by herself)
I let them cook completely and then cover and decorate the next day.

Butter Cream Frosting

If you make one batch of the cookies you need approximately 3X the frosting recipe. Garrett my son loves a lot of frosting on his cookies so there is no scrimping in this house. I also started coloring some of the frosting and then this year I am using clear sugar crystals on the colored frosting. On the white frosting, I sprinkle colored sugar. You can find this int he baking aisle.

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 t. vanilla, I use clear for a whiter frosting
About 2 T. milk- I use 2%, you have to cut calories somewhere

Mix powdered sugar and butter. Stir in vanilla and milk; beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency. Sometimes I have to add more milk than the recipe calls for. Add carefully as you don't want it to be too runny.

This recipe can be used for any holiday. There are so many cookie cutters to choose from. We have been making these cookies since we got married 28 years ago. I think the only years we have taken off are the two that I was pregnant for the kids.