"If I were on a desert island and could only eat two foods, I'd choose these Halloween cookies and vanilla ice cream," said my 10-year-old. And she said this while nibbling an un-frosted cookie that was brown and crispy as opposed to the majority which turned out that wonderful creamy color of the classic sugar cookie. Children love sugar cookies! And this is why this sugar cookie recipe is introduced with, "Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, Bohemian, German --just about every European ethnic group that settled Wisconsin had some version of the sugar cookie." The recipe, simply titled, Sugar Cookies, came from the cookbook, The Flavor of Wisconsin: An informal history of food and eating in the Badger state, written by Harva Hachten and Terese Allen.
To make these simple and delicious cookies fun for our children's Halloween party, I frosted them with Helen Myhre's "basic powdered sugar frosting" recipe from her Wisconsin cookbook, The Norske Nook: Farm recipes and food secrets from the Norske Nook, the Midwest's #1 roadside cafe. Click on "Continue reading..." for these sugar cookie and frosting recipes.
Sugar Cookies from The Flavor of Wisconsin: An informal history of food and eating in the Badger state
- 2 cups sifted flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Additional sugar
Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Cream shortening, butter, and sugar until light. Add egg and cream well. Stir in nutmeg and blend in flour mixture. Cover dough and chill. (I chilled it about an hour.)
Roll dough into small balls, and place on lightly greased baking sheet, and press flat with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in sugar. (I rolled the dough and cut it out into Halloween cookie shapes.) Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 5-6 dozen. (My cookies were much bigger so I got about 3 dozen from these proportions.)
Helen Myhre introduced this frosting recipe with, "Powdered sugar frosting most farm women can make in their sleep. But that doesn't mean it's so easy; you have to have sense, because powdered sugar isn't all the same. I don't know whether it's for more profit or what, but a lot of what you get today, there's no weight to it at all. It's like cotton, you take a hold of it and pouff...It's so light, it gets sloppy; then, of course, you have to use more of it. So if you ever get a box that's lumpy and packed tight, consider yourself lucky; that what real powdered sugar should be."
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 capful vanilla extract ( I was out of vanilla and substituted almond)
Heat the butter and milk together in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Put the powdered sugar in a bowl, and pour the hot milk mixture over.
Add the vanilla and beat well to remove all the lumps. If it's too thin, gradually add more powdered sugar.
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