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    I am an Average Mom Too!

    I am an Average Mom Too!

    I cannot believe that we are just outside a month until Valentine’s Day! Ah! We are not huge Valentine’s day celebrators but I do love making cookies with my boys.

    They love the whole process. The mess, the sneaking bites, the mess, time with me, being creative, did I mention the mess?! Truly, they both love being in the kitchen but I rarely make time or have the patience to enjoy creating food with them but this is a tradition I try to keep every few months. Starting with

    Valentine's Day, then Easter, usually Halloween, and for sure Christmas.


    I shared back in October that I would show you all a simple way to look like you are super mom while actually being incredibly average just like me. Then guess what, life happened and I forgot all about posting my little secret. So here I am three and a half months later ready to spill the beans on how I make average look fancy.

    I started baking cookies with my boys in the last year and a half when my boys were both old enough to help or at least halfway enjoy making a mess. Ha.

    You start with whatever your favorite sugar cookie recipe is. I love this one by Katrina at Katrina’s Kitchen. I have included the link as well as Katrina’s full instructions. She has FAQ’s on the link which may be helpful to those of you who have never made sugar cookies.

    Best Sugar Cookie Recipe
    YIELD: 3 dozen cookies
    PREP TIME: 30 minutes
    COOK TIME: 6-8 minutes
    TOTAL TIME: 38 minutes
    Soft cut out sugar cookie recipe that keeps its shape and dough does not need to be chilled before baking- perfect edges every time!
    INGREDIENTS:
    1 Cup unsalted butter
    1 Cup granulated white sugar
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1/2 teaspoon almond extract
    1 egg
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    3 cups all purpose flour
     
    DIRECTIONS:
    Preheat oven to 350° F.
    In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth, at least 3 minutes
    Beat in extracts and egg.
    In a separate bowl combine baking powder and salt with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
    DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).
    Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
    Original recipe © In Katrina's Kitchen

     

    I have used this recipe more times than I can count and I really love it. So now on to my secret little mom trick. All of you are always so impressed with my royal icing skills. DON’T BE! Y’all for real, I have no clue what I am doing and if I can do it you can too! I make cookies the boys probably 3 to 4 times a year, as I mentioned earlier, so I am no expert. Of course, if you make cookies all the time I would recommend making your own but I did that one time and then found this little-boxed gem! It saves time and thinking which is worth its weight in gold to me.

    I will say that I don’t actually follow it’s measurements. I put a couple tablespoons of water in and then just add more water till I get to the consistency I want. Easy peasy friends! I buy mine at our local Meijer like I said with the cookie cutters but you can obviously get it online as well. 

    Here are a few of my tips for beautiful cookies.

    • I use various sizes and shapes to add texture and fun for your eyes. It just adds a more dynamic look which makes them look more impressive than they actually are. For example, use several sizes of stars or for Valentine’s Day, I always use different size and shape variations of hearts. Like short fat one, tall skinny ones, or the more traditional looking heart. I hope that makes sense. For Halloween, I do various shaped pumpkins, bats, candy corn, etc. Hopefully, you get the idea.
    • Wilton sells these tubs of cookie cutters that are great if you are looking for variety. Our local Meijer store carries them but you can find them on Amazon as well.
    • Use a few colors to keep it simple. You want variety but every color you add is just more work for you. Not only in decorating but in the clean up. Who likes doing more dishes? Not me!
    • I generally start with a thicker outline to hold the interior design as that frosting will be a bit runnier till it sets up.

    Have so much fun with decorating! I put out all manner of sprinkles for the kids to get bonkers with. I will shoot you real straight here…I struggle with releasing control to let them just have fun so I always sit half aside for me to decorate myself after they are done. That way it limits my yelling at them and takes away my desire to control what every cookie looks like. All you super moms who are chill and your children are perfect don’t understand this side of the process but for all you normal moms can I get an AMEN?!?!?

    There you have it. The easy way to look like super mom! Buy the icing in a box, let your kids go crazy and then pour yourself a glass or wine, coffee, water, milk (whatever suits your fancy), crank the new “Greatest Showman Soundtrack” and ice your picture-perfect cookies.

    We will take them to friends, as well as flowers to some ladies we know who no longer have husbands living. This is actually my favorite thing to do. We go to my favorite local florist and get fresh bouquets and then just spend the afternoon driving around and delivering them to each woman and telling them we were thinking of them. It makes me proud to see my boys learning to love and serve others.

    Do you have any little traditions you keep each year that don’t revolve around Christmas? I am all for traditions year round and would love to hear about yours!