Katherine Chloé Cahoon

In my mind, a holiday just isn’t complete without homemade treats. My grandma’s rest home friends were the first to remind me of this. So I pulled out a cherished family sugar cookie recipe and got down to baking. Confession—I had to whip up extra cookie dough because much of it mysteriously disappeared. Wonder who the culprit was?!

Here are the ingredients for one batch of Cousin Liz’s coveted cookies…

1) one cup butter, 2) two cups sugar, 3) two eggs, 4) one cup sour cream, 5) one tsp. vanilla, 6) four tsp. baking powder, 7) four and one-half cups flour, 8) one-half tsp. salt, and 9) one-half tsp. backing soda.

Cream the butter and sugar, add eggs, and beat well. Then, add sour cream and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and blend in creamed mixture. Refrigerate your dough overnight. Then roll it out on a floured surface to a half-inch thick, and stamp out cookie shapes. Place on an oiled or non-stick sheet. I baked my cookies in a convection oven at 300 degrees for about eight minutes. Your baking temperature and time will vary depending on the size of your shapes and your oven.

I got these adorable Halloween cookie cutters at Williams-Sonoma.

For the homemade frosting recipe, you will need…

1) two lb. bag powdered sugar, 2) one cube of butter, 3) three-fourths cup shortening, 4) one tsp. vanilla, and 5) one-half cup canned milk.

Mix all your ingredients together for five minutes until the consistency is smooth and creamy. Then add food coloring for your desired hue.

Now you’re ready for my favorite part… Decorating!

The most important step in this whole process is to have fun. Isn’t that what baking is all about? And speaking of fun, I hope you all have a terrific Halloween!