LET'S TALK TURKEY

TURKEY COOKIES

Don't worry—these cookies don't taste like turkey. Ewww.

This is my mother's recipe—for the best sugar cookie ever.

During my childhood, they were simply known as "Turkey cookies", because Mom made them every year for Thanksgiving.

DOUGH:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

-       Cream together butter and sugar.

-       Add in eggs, milk, and vanilla—and blend well.

-       Add baking powder, then slowly add in flour (1 cup at a time), mixing well.

-       Chill dough for (at least) 10 minutes in refrigerator (can leave them in there overnight to break up the work).

-       Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes (turkeys!).

-       Grease pan to start and between each load of cookies for best results (but don't burn your hands!)

-       Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 8 minutes. (Note that my oven might cook differently than yours. In my mother's oven, these cookies required 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Be careful and watch these cookies the whole time, because these can burn fast. The topside of the cookie doesn't darken much when compared to the bottom.)

FROSTING:

1 tablespoon butter, softened

3 tablespoons whole milk

2 cups powdered sugar

Flavoring to taste (a little goes a long way, so don't get too generous with the initial dosing before taste testing)

Hints:

-       To make things easier on yourself, microwave butter into mostly liquid (but don’t burn) before you mix in any other ingredients.

-       To be honest, I "eyeball" the milk and powdered sugar, adding more of whichever is needed for consistency (but I hate recipes that don't give exact directions, so I won't do that to you).

-       For flavorings, I suggest:

o   maple for Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies

o   peppermint or cinnamon oil for Christmas trees

o   vanilla or hot chocolate mix for Easter bunny cookies.

-       When frosting cookies, only do 1-2 at a time before adding desired sprinkles or other decorations. Otherwise, the frosting dries too fast and the toppings won't stick.

-       If you didn't make enough frosting the first time around, get a new bowl to mix up the next batch (or you'll kick yourself because it won't mix properly).

Plan to spend a good deal of time preparing, cooking, decorating, and cleaning up afterwards—but it's so worth it!