Patriotic Cookies

It's not too late to make a sweet treat for this weekend.  Are you invited to a picnic or having guests over?  This is a perfect end to a day of festivities.  I have shared this recipe before, but wanted to give a few extra tips for making them even easier.

Recipe for cake like cookies.

Here are a few tips:

• If you are in a rush and can't make your own frosting, go ahead and cheat with store bought frosting.  I feel if part of the dessert is homemade (like the cookie) you can get by with a canned frosting.
• Make sure to use a generous amount of frosting. The one thing that is so delicious about these cookies is the thick layer of frosting.
• If you are freezing the cookies, go ahead and flash freeze them on the cookie sheet before stacking them in a container.  Use parchment paper in between layers to prevent sticking upon thawing.
• If making them for a crowd use a small circle cutter (about 2 inches).  The smaller size is easier to eat at a picnic and allows people to try several flavors.
• Want to change up the  flavor combination?  Try adding 1 tsp of lemon extract or almond extract to the dough instead of vanilla.

Another great benefit of making these cookies yourself is you can control the quality of ingredients.  Also, the store bought version has a disclaimer for nut allergies, make them yourself and you can be nut free!

I didn't really need to show how to cream sugar and butter. This picture is just a ploy to show my new hot pink mixer ;o)

I used a biscuit cutter to make perfect circles.