Mom and I are always brainstorming ideas for cooking and entertaining. We do some of our best thinking in the car on our way to some fun destination. Living in the Southwest, we were inspired to do a cookie rista on a pot shopping trip to Tubac. By "pot" I mean the legal kind...that hold plants, or just sit and look pretty. If you are ever in Southern Arizona, The Country Store in Tubac is the place to go! Anyway, now, one of the things I like to make each year for our Christmas party or any family fiesta, is a Chili Cookie Rista (c).
I asked my husband Doug, to cut a piece of 1/4" partical board into the shape of a rista to function as a tray. He sanded the edges for me and curved the sides...yeah, he is awesome! I just cover it with foil or wrapping paper...whichever suits me at the time.
I make the cookies using a chili shaped cookie cutter (Ace Hardware has two sizes, I use the big one). Each one gets a good schmearing of red frosting. Then I use a decorating bag with a leaf tip and each cookie gets a green stem and a couple of leaves. It takes a little time, but it is so worth the effort! Over the years, with much trial and error, I have developed a pretty good recipe for sugar cookies. You don't even need frosting. But what really makes a sugar cookie great IS the frosting.
...and CREAM CHEESE FROSTING ROCKS! I think cream cheese frosting should be put on everything. Actually, I think cream cheese should be its own food group!
A little history; My mom taught me the joys of cream cheese frosting at a young age. Mom never gave us store-bought cookies...(we thought we were deprived...we were stupid...)the closest we came to store bought, were the Girl Scout Thin Mints mom ordered from me each year...then she would put them in the freezer thinking that would keep us from eating them! Ah! Have you ever had a frozen Thin Mint???...MARVELOUS! Anyway, I digress... if mom didn't have a batch of choco-chip cookies made, she would make my brother and me graham cracker cookies to put in our school lunches. Mom always had graham crackers on hand! She would take homemade cream cheese frosting and spread it between two whole graham crackers and then put it in a baggie. The cookie would get just a little soft as it sat in the bag all morning, next to our bologne sandwich with "the tangy zip" of Miracle Whip and half an apple. I would always eat my cookie first, just in case something happened; like if a game of dodgeball or tag would get started before I had time to finish eating. Really, the saying should go: "School lunch is short, eat your cookie first!"
Cathy's Sugar Cookies
4 cups AP flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
Sift together flour, b-powder, and salt. Beat butter, shortening, and sugar together until light and creamy. Add in eggs, vanilla, and almond extract; beat well. Add dry ingredients, and beat until well blended. If dough is too stiff, add in up to 2 tablespoons of milk. At this point you can freeze the dough in a freezer bag for up to a month. Chill dough for at least 3 hours or overnight. Roll out dough on to lightly flour board. Cut into desired shapes. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Make about 6 dozen cookies.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz. package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 to 5 cups powdered sugar
Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and lemon juice. Slowly add in powdered sugar,using as much as needed. Beat until light and fluffy.
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