Let the Cooking Begin

Photo by Steph Quernemoen on Unsplash

So some of the Suspense Sisters got together and wrote five Christmas novellas and put them into a collection called Holly and Homicide. If you scroll down past my blog post, there is a link with a description of the stories for preordering the collection that comes out November 17. The stories are suspense or mystery and some have a touch of romance. All of them have a whole lot of Christmas Spirit. One of the things we did with this anthology is include a recipe that is part of the story in each novella. My main character Vesper Montgomery works a caterer who makes simple food like mom would make. The recipe below is a Christmas cookie recipe I have used for years that makes fluffy sweet cookies, not the cardboard with frosting on it that sugar cookies can often turn out to be. I hope you will try it out. This is a great time of year because between Thanksgiving and Christmas people are cooking all kinds of special kinds of foods, many that are often only made for these holidays.  

Best Christmas Cookies Ever

¾ c. white sugar

½ c. butter

½ tsp vanilla or lemon

1 egg

½ c. sour cream

2 ½ c. flour

Dash of salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1. Mix together sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg. Add sour cream

2. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to the wet batter until well mixed.

3. Cover and chill for at least one hour.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

5. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to a generous ¼ inch thick. Using cookie cutters, create desired shapes. Place on a lightly greased pan.

6. Remove cookies from the oven when the bottoms are light brown, about 8-9 minutes.

7. Decorate as desired.

Vesper’s Tips for Perfect Sugar Cookies:

Depending on the size of the cookies, you should be able to get a dozen to 18 cookies. You can double or triple the batch if you need to make more. Don’t think you can get more cookies by rolling them thinner. That’s how you get cookies that taste like cardboard with frosting on them.

Every oven cooks differently. Rather than go by the time, check the bottom of the cookies. When they are light brown, pull them out. They will be fragile until they cool, but this will prevent the cookies from tasting dry. The sour cream helps too. 

I hope you enjoyed the recipe. And please do think about ordering the anthology. In the meantime, I have a book coming out at the end of December called Taken in Wyoming about a woman who returns to a small town in Wyoming to find out what happened to her best friend who disappeared when they were both eight years old. Of course, there is a handsome police officer who wants to protect her but has secrets of his own. 

I will be giving away three copies of Taken in Wyoming, so leave a comment letting me know your favorite thing to eat or cook during this time of year. If you include your email address with the comment, you will be entered in the drawing. I'll randomly pick the name on Sunday night and inform the winners by Monday (USA only). 

Happy Reading and Happy Cooking to you all!

Sharon Dunn