THE sugar cookies

These are the cookies that started it all. I made then one Sunday evening and Haylee and our friend Lindsey came over. Haylee was HOOKED! Pretty soon we were making them every other day. About 15 lbs. later we realized we had a problem and it was serious! I have two rules when making cookies and they are 1- Bigger is ALWAYS better and 2- if you haven't made yourself sick on cookie dough before the first batch comes out of the oven then you haven't made them right.

Here's what you will need:
1/3 c. butter or margarine
1/3 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
Beat butter and shortening on med for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and a dash of salt. Beat until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour by hand. Cover and chill for 20 minutes.
Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes. ( I don't know why but I swear circles taste better!) Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375* for 7-8 min. (I like mine really soft and like I said before BIG so they end up cooking for about 8 1/2 min.)
Frosting:
1/3 c. butter or margarine
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract (way yummy with almond extract)
milk
food coloring
Beat butter until fluffy and gradually add in powdered sugar. Beat in the milk and extract and add more milk if needed. This frosting recipe is enough for 2 batches of cookies so you can either half the frosting recipe of double the batch of cookies. I would double the cookies if I were you. :)