I love the holidays and any reason to celebrate, so I had to make something festive for the season. I thought a lot about these cookies and how I would frost them, and what colors I would use... and then I threw that all out the window. I had this grand plan of using royal icing to make a perfect beautiful sugar cookie, but the thing is, I never think that hard royal icing tastes very good! So I pulled out an old family recipe for fluffy, soft cookies, and whipped up my own almond buttercream frosting, and they were delicious! (...and I think they still turned out pretty cute!)

Sugar Cookies

-makes about about 5 dozen depending on cutters size-

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 sticks softened butter

2 eggs

4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup sour cream

To start, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Next, sift all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. and add in 2 parts, adding the sour cream in-between. Mix dough until just combined, and then wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. When you're ready to bake, set your oven to 350 degrees and roll out your dough on a floured surface to about 1/4" thick. Cut out your desired shapes and then bake for 7-8 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before frosting.

Almond Frosting

2 sticks softened butter

4 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons milk (as needed for moisture)

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

food coloring (optional)

Beat softened butter until light and fluffy and add the sugar in, one cup at a time. Add milk as needed, in-between each addition of sugar if it gets too thick. Lastly, stir in the almond extract and any desired food colorings.

Then.... eat all the cookies yourself and have a Happy Halloween!!