Let's make "politically correct" Holiday Sugar Cookies!

One of Mom's fondest Holiday memories from the years that she's spent living with the Feline Americans was the year that Cookie Monster EARNED his name. Until this particular incident, Cookie Monster was just a feline named after a Sesame Street© character that Mom had loved as a kid.

Then ... She brought home a little Saran-wrapped package of three Christmas cookies given to her by a friend from work. She put the cookies on an end table and sat down to read a book. Little did she know that Cookie Monster had spied the cookies and hatched a plan to capture and devour the cookies.

To be honest, Mom should have been more careful with those cookies because Cookie Monster and his partner-in-crime Percy had been food-burglars on a few previous occasions (the "turkey sandwich debacle," the "corn muffin" binge, and "death of a bread loaf" ... ask me about 'em sometime and I'll relate the stories as I heard them told at Meemaw's knee ... Do cats even HAVE knees?).

Anyway, Cookie Monster was a tall cat, so when he stood on his hind legs and reached up, he was easily able to snag the packet of cookies. He tore through the plastic wrap and munched all three of those cookies without sharing the wealth! He didn't eat ALL of each cookie, but he did an admirable job spreading crumbs all over the carpet behind the couch!

When Mom looked for her cookie packet and couldn't find it, she looked for the culprit. Cookie Monster would have gotten away with the crime if he had had crumbs all over his ascot and red sprinkles all over his muzzle.

So, in honor of that Holiday memory, I'm publishing Mom's (and probably a million other cookie bakers') recipe for Sugar Cookies. We're gonna be helping Mom to bake some this afternoon. Hopefully, Lucky Charmz won't want to help to see if the oven is hot enough ... I don't know what it is about him and the oven ...


Politically Correct HOLIDAY SUGAR COOKIES
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Place sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy.
Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375˚.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board (Mom uses powdered sugar instead of flour) with a rolling pin until the dough is roughly 1/8" thick.
Cut the dough into Christmas (or Hanukkah, Ramadan, Tet, Kwanzaa, etc.) shapes using cookie cutters. Place onto cookie sheets leaving adequate space around the cookies so that they don't touch each other (hee, hee!).
Bake on a greased cookie sheet (Mom uses Silpat® instead of greasing the cookie sheets) at 375˚ for 7-9 minutes.
Remove cookies carefully from the cookie sheets onto wire cooling racks.
After cookies have set and cooled, decorate with frosting and/or sprinkles!
Yields approximately 4 dozen cookies.