Recipe 12 - Squirrel Sugar Cookies

We're back! We had a great time together in England. This weekend I'm travelling home to KY for my birthday, and I'll be cooking in my mom's kitchen. I might be pressed for time, so I chose something simple that lets us use a funny tool that I got for both of us back in January:

We love squirrels. You may think we're crazy, but we had a few that we liked to feed almonds to when we lived together.

I've modified a sugar cookie recipe that Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) posted on Serious Eats.

Cutout Cookies
- makes about 24 cookies-

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick / 114 g) butter, softened
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 egg
1/8 cup (30ml) half and half
1 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add in the half and half and mix until incorporated.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir this mixture into your wet ingredients, a bit at a time, mixing well.

3. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the cookies with a cookie cutter. Place about 1 inch apart. Chill cookies on the cookie tray for another half hour in the fridge, if it will fit in your fridge; this will make the shapes a little crisper.

Note: You can roll the dough out on parchment paper, which you can transfer directly to the baking sheet. If you don't use the parchment paper trick, use an ungreased cookie sheet to bake.

5. Bake at 325°F (gas mark 3) for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the edges are just lightly browned. After about five minutes, remove to wire racks and let cool completely.