I haven’t baked in months. I have totally missed it though. I have missed bringing sweet treats to co-workers and friends and enjoying them at home as well. But I have just been so tired that I haven’t had the energy to spend on making anything other then what is necessary for a meal. But last night I got some motivation. I had 3 reasons I wanted to bake cookies:

1. Tonight we are going to visit some friends who had a baby girl last week. I’m bringing them a meal and obviously dessert needed to be included. Ad please, if I showed up with a store bought dessert, what the heck. I just can’t do that.

2. Tomorrow we are driving 7 hours to Arizona to visit Jon’s sister, her husband and 2 boys. Excited doesn’t even begin to describe how we feel about seeing them. I know when their grandparents go to visit they just spoil them with gifts. Well Aunt and Uncle will spoil you, but let’s be honest boys, what the heck else could you possible want? Duh, cookies! What little kid doesn’t want some cookies? Exactly. And with colorful sprinkles, ya, I will be the new favorite aunt.

3. We found out the sex of our little baby. GIRL. I can’t even believe it. I swore it was a boy. In fact, my entire family did. But Jon’s side knew it was a girl. So much for ‘women’s intuition’ because I just got proven WAAAYYY wrong. A little girl, oh my word. What a blessing. There are so many emotions that go along with it, all good ones. I can’t believe I get to train a daughter on how to become a woman, what an incredible responsibility and gift.

Okay, now on to the cookies. Oh my heavens. Perfection. They really are my new favorite sugar cookie recipe. They are fluffy, firm on the outside, and soft in the middle. Perfect to roll in sprinkles, coat with frosting, or just eat plain. AND, you don’t have to cut them. Lots of sugar cookies require that you chill the dough , roll them into a log then slice them to get that perfect sugar cookie shape. Not these. You just mix them, use a cookie scoop and plop them on the cookie sheet. So easy.

Recipe adapted from Savory Sweet Life
Makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on how big you make them

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups white sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup coarse sugar crystals, regular granulated sugar, or sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugar until it is nice and creamy. Mix in 1 egg yolk at a time and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt until cookie dough is completely mixed. Be sure to scrape down the bowl to be sure everything is mixed. Using a medium scoop, form dough balls and roll them in the sugar or sprinkles. Place them on the cookie sheet and I slightly pressed down on the dough balls to flatten the cookie, just slightly.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until the surface of each cookie is a little cracked on the top. Don’t over bake or they will get crunchy. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Then finish cooling on a wire rack. They will store in an air tight container for up to 4 days.