People have been trying to reinvent the basic sugar cookie for years now. And, look, I get it, there’s a reason for all the glitz and glam we subject ourselves to. We live in a world of short attention spans. I mean, look at me. I’ve been publishing recipes on this website for almost a year now and I barely get any traffic. Maybe it’s because I don’t know a thing about marketing and SEO, maybe it’s because I don’t have a Twitter profile, I’m not sure.

There’s this urge to stand out these days. To have some ingredient no one’s ever heard of, or to have some amazing technique that has never been tried before. I understand the impulse. But there’s no need to do all of that. Charles Boyle said it best on an early episode of Brooklyn 99:

“Desserts don’t need to be clever. They just need to be good.”
Charles Boyle, Brooklyn 99

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Christmas Cookies

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups sifted and measured flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs

FROSTING

1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/4 pound soft butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons milk

Instructions

COOKIES
Sift together flour, salt, and soda
Cream together sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs
Refrigerate dough until cold
Roll out, cut
Bake at 350, about 8 minutes
FROSTING
Cream 1/3 of sugar with butter & salt in large bowl
Blend extract, 2 Tbsp of milk, & remaining sugar into mixture
Gradually stir remaining milk into frosting until desired spreading consistency is reached
Frost cookies and add sprinkles as desired