Jody Blue: February 2011

In the words of that great philosopher The Pillsbury Doughboy "nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven!" In honor of Valentines Day I give you our FAVORITE sugar cookie recipe. Quite a few years ago I was on a mission to find a sugar cookie that we loved. I tried every sugar cookie recipe in every cook book I had, asked family and friends, and scoured magazines while waiting in line at the grocery store(remember how it was before we could go online?). Then our family went to a graduation party, balloons and streamers parted, and garage lights shown down upon Sugar Cookie perfection!!! I hunted down the maker of said perfection, of course it would be the Grma of the graduate. She said "another girl also wants the recipe" that other girl turned out to be one of ours, so I knew we had found "the one". Grma Shirley sent me the recipe and it has remained our favorite ever since.

Grma Shirley's Sugar Cookies

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (I use 2-3)
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350* Mix ingredients in order. Chill dough. Roll into walnut sized balls(I just use a small ice cream scoop). Dip bottom of glass into sugar then gently press cookie. Bake @ 350* for 10-12 min on lightly greased cookie sheet. Makes 3-4 dozen. For my family if the edges start to brown they are to done. For festive occasions I mix decorating sugar with granulated sugar).

We also went on a perfect cookie press search, and found a vase that works great. I spray the bottom of the vase with cooking spray before the first sugar dip. I now want to go on the perfect cookie sheet search, mine are really old. I though I should just use one of the many jelly roll/bar pans I have, I wasn't impressed. The cookies turned out a little flat and not as many fit on the pan. For now I'll go back to my old ones, they have a seasoned quality.