I’m gonna get it. You’re gonna hate me for this…

I can not STAND Halloween.

Spending money on a costume you wear once to go beg for candy at a strangers house? It’s just beyond me. As a kid I wasn’t even allowed to trick or treat, so maybe that’s where my dislike for the day comes from. If we did manage to convince our mom trick-or-treating was a good idea, we were bloody soccer players: last years soccer uniform accessorized with random squirts of ketchup. Costume, check.

Next is the whole candy thing, I REALLY don’t get this part.

There’s so much fear associated with getting it from strangers. Next Tuesday I’m fairly certain every news station will have a segment informing parents to really check your kids candy to make sure there aren’t any sketchy looking fun size snickers, or an already opened skittles bag. Why risk it? Ok fine, you know your neighbors sooooo well this isn’t even a concern. So you let your kids trick or treat, then you bitch INCESSANTLY about how hyper they are and how you can’t stop eating it. No, it’s not annoying, at all. And how do we know the holiday candy they put on the shelves at Target and Costco isn’t just leftover from last year? That stuff has a shelf life of forever. No really, I think it might. Which, is great news in case of an emergency. I can totally live on Reese’s, and M&M’s and licorice. I’m just waiting for an excuse to do so…

Now that you’re thoroughly annoyed with me, which is perfectly acceptable, how about some cookies?

Is it weird to hand out homemade cookies to trick-or-treaters? Probably. Homemade cookies for sure fall into the ‘don’t let your kids eat that from a strangers house’ category. But these are so cute. And yummy! Those fluffy sugar cookies in the bakery section of the grocery store, you know the ones. This is a recipe that tastes VERY similar to them. Which happens to be one of my husband’s FAVORITE cookies.

Warming: These cookies do take some time to frost. be patient. They are worth it!

I saw the post on Jessica’s Blog and knew these would be the perfect Halloween cookie. And they were, all 4 seconds they lasted at work before everyone devoured them.

Loft House Sugar Cookies
Makes: A TON of cookies!

Ingredients
Cookies
6 cups flour, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream (regular or light)

Frosting
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons heavy cream
food coloring
Sprinkles

Directions
For the cookies:
In a medium bowl, whisk 5 cups of flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula a few times along the way. Add the eggs, one at a time beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat at low speed until combined.

Sift the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add the dry ingredients and beat on low just until combined, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Divide dough into two sections. Flatten into rectangles about 1 1/2 inches thick, then wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
*Yes, chilling the dough is necessary to help it firm up and make rolling it out possible.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.

Flour a work area and rolling pin. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until pale golden. Immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.
*Do not let the cookies brown,at all. Mine baked for exactly 7 minutes and were perfect!

For the frosting:
To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and vanilla. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar. Once smooth and creamy, mix in heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired spreading consistency is achieved.

Allow cookies to cool completely, then frost and add sprinkles. Allow frosting to set (took about 8 hours for me), then store in an air-tight container. Let cookies sit overnight before serving to allow the flavors to develop.

Notes:
I divided the batch into thirds and still got about 30 cookies. Yes, I made them smaller then the ones at the store, but they were a great size. About 3 bites per cookie.

Let the dough sit in the fridge overnight. It not only helps develop the flavor, but it helps the dough firm back up for easy rolling.

The frosting gets harder the longer it sits. Frost the cookies 1 day before you stack them or send them off to work or school with the kids. I wondered about this as I was frosting them… I frosted them around 7 am, went to work, came home and the frosting had become slightly more firm. Not HARD, but just not messy. Does that even make sense?