what's for your sweet tooth {grandma cornwell's sugar cookies}.

i'm such a stickler for traditions.  especially at christmastime.  i love making memories with my girls and there's actually a lot of research that points to families who engage in traditions create more feelings of security and safety for their children.

bam.

i grew up in the most tradition-ing-est family maybe ever known on earth.  we did the same thing every holiday right down to chex mix at christmastime, eating at a fancy local restaurant every easter sunday and salmon and egg gravy every fourth of july (i'm thirty four years old and i still have no idea what egg gravy is, but apparently it's an independence day must have for new englanders in my grandparents generation...and for the record, i never ate it).  it's so important to me to pass on family traditions, memories and history to my sweet girls and weave them together with some of our own original ones too.

my husband had the best grandmother.  i only had the privilege of knowing her for a few years before she passed, but she was the kindest and most generous woman, who was the rock of the entire family.  she grew up in harsh minnesota winters and raised five children all on her own in the sweltering texas heat.  her house always felt like home, even to me, one who was from the outside coming in.  she made everyone feel welcomed and cared for, and food was a big part of how she loved (my kind of woman).

and.  she made the BEST frosted sugar cookies.  nick has so many memories of them being at every holiday, and eating them until his stomach ached.  i don't know how many batches of those cookies she must have made in her lifetime, but every one of them was baked with love.  when we first got married, i decided i wanted to intertwine her cookie-making-and-loving-with-food legacy into our family and started making these cookies every year... first just nick & i, and then with our girls.

and they are delicious.

here is the recipe.

grandma cornwell's frosted sugar cookies

* 1 c. shortening

* 2 c. white sugar

* 2 eggs

* 2 t. vanilla 

* 1 c. sour cream

* 6 c. flour

* 2 t. baking soda

* 1 t. salt

- cream together first four ingredients.  

- add sour cream.

- add dry ingredients in a separate bowl, slowly add into creamed mixture until just combined.

- roll out and cut, bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes depending on size and thickness.  Cool before frosting.

Frosting: melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter, add a 2 lb. bag of powdered sugar and 2 or 3 teaspoons of vanilla.  Add enough milk to make it the desired consistency.  I separated into several batches to color and let the kids go crazy ;)

we miss grandma cornwell... so thankful we can keep her memory alive in the generations of cornwells to come.  i can still taste her love in each bite of these cookies.

enjoy!