It has been a really great winter here in Tennessee. One of the warmest, really. So warm that I haven’t been cranky or whiny about spring being so far off. So warm that I’ve been cheerfully doing activities with my daughter that require a little more skill and make us feel fancy when complete. Recently, I whipped out an old recipe from a friend: the absolute BEST sugar cookie recipe. As I thought about how to be a super mom, how to have fun with my kiddo, and how to cultivate a spirit of kindness before Valentine’s Day, we got cooking.
While I don’t always brag about my baking, I absolutely adore this sugar cookie recipe, and for Valentine’s Day it’s great to pair cookie baking with decorating Valentines. Madelyn is packing the cards and cookies and taking them to her teachers and school friends. We are so excited. (And I get brownie points, right?)
The simple activity of baking cookies and creating our own Valentine’s cards is a perfect lesson in creativity (frosting-coloring and cutting), alphabet practice (writing thoughtful notes to friends), and kindness (giving Valentine’s and cookies to someone else). And the best part: all those lessons came together to make someone else happy.
Here goes:
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Glaze:
powder sugar
milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla together. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate container. Slowly add flour mix to butter mix. Wrap all in wax paper and chill in fridge for 1 to 3 hrs. Roll in desired shape on floured surface. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 min.
Tips: Make sure to roll out cookies thick enough. I had a few break in the process and it was a huge bummer.
Glaze:
The secret is to add a little almond extract to the icing. The icing is simply powdered sugar and milk to desired thickness. Just a tiny bit of milk goes a long way. Do not make frosting glaze too thin because it does not look pretty nor does it taste as good.
Finally, make sure to print off a few pretty Homer Valentine’s printables and add some ribbon to the bags. Your kiddos classmates will love the special Valentine’s package!
Share on your socials using the tag #spreadkindness and tag @learnwithhomer.
Written by Homer staff member and fellow mommy, Jess Peoples.
,
