Iced Sugar Cookies

Kent and I decided to have a big Spring Break party this year.  So we invited lots of friends over and got busy making a plan.  We had been looking for an excuse to have a crawfish party like ones we used to go to in Oxford, and we thought this would be the perfect time.  So, Kent built a double crawfish table that worked wonderfully for the party, and we stocked up with beer, raw oysters, Gretchen's crab dip, and Texas caviar to give everyone a few more options for food.  I wanted to make something sweet and remembered that Sally had given me a crawfish cookie cutter last summer.  And, when I went to look for it, I found a dolphin cookie cutter from my Tri Delt days (I bought it because Jen and I always joked about collecting dolphin memorabilia) that I thought would go well with our funny airbrushed Spring Break Party invites.  I had planned on making a very super secret cookie recipe (it's so secret that I can't even reveal who gave it to me!), but I was missing part of an ingredient.  So, on a whim, I ended up making the cookie recipe that had come with the cookie cutter that Sally had given me published by Ann Clark.  They turned out wonderfully, even though some of the claws fell off of my crawfish! 

Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups sifted flour.

Directions:

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Beat the egg in a separate dish then add it to the butter/sugar mixture.  Add in the vanilla, salt, and flour.  Mix until all ingredients are well blended.  Chill dough 3 - 4 hours before rolling.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and cut.  Bake about 8 - 10 minutes or until barely colored.  Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks. 

Icing:

3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)

1 Tb. butter

1 Tb. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Melt butter.  Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.  Add food coloring.

*For the icing, I always add way more powdered sugar than the directions indicate so it's not as runny and sticks a little thicker to the cookies.