Mrs. Diana's Sugar Cookies - A Family Favorite

Well, here we are. Only three days until Christmas.

The stockings have been hung.

The gifts have been wrapped.

And while I had planned to show you pictures of the fabulous time my granddaughters and I had decorating cookies, I was having so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures.

However, I can show you some of the fruits of our sugar-induced labor.

Okay, so I was given this recipe for sugar cookies some 33 years ago when I was a young bride. And I've made them every year since. This year, though, I found another recipe that was very similar, except that it had a lot more sour cream which would equate to a fluffier cookie.

So I tried said recipe. It said to refrigerate for at least an hour. I waited two before attempting to roll out the dough.

Ugh! Talk about a kitchen fail. It stuck to everything, even the floured surface. 

Frustrated, I wrapped it back up and stuck it back in the fridge--overnight! 

In the meantime, I whipped up a batch of my tried and true recipe. The dough was much stiffer, though definitely not suitable for rolling yet. And would you believe the dough even tasted better?

The next morning, I pulled out my usual recipe, rolled it and cut out my cookies without issue. Then I pulled out the new recipe. After all, it had been in the fridge all night. 

It still stuck to everything! No matter how much flour I added. (insert frustrated scream)

I managed to eek out a few decent cookies before tossing the rest of the dough in the trash. 

Were they fluffier? 

Yes. But they didn't taste near as good as my tried and true recipe. And I am here to tell you that I will never switch again.

Mrs. Diana's Sugar Cookies

1 ½ C Sugar

1 C Butter

2 Eggs

2 T Sour Cream

1 t Baking Soda

3 ½ C Flour

½ t Nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add remaining ingredients. Chill in refrigerator 2 hours to overnight. Roll to ¼ inch thickness on lightly floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake @ 350, 8-10 minutes.

There you have it. Short and simple. 

Some things just shouldn't be messed with.

Each of the girls got to take home their own plate of cookies. And they weren't limited to simply red and green. We had pink cookies, purple cookies, yellow and blue. 

Best of all, they went home with memories. 

When I was a little girl, my great-aunt Gladys used to invite us kids to her place to decorate Christmas cookies. She had a very small kitchen and one year I bumped into my cousin, sending his plate of unadorned cookies careening toward the floor where they promptly broke.

Aunt Gladys, a retired school teacher, looked at me very matter-of-fact and said, "Mindy, you'll just have to share your cookies."

I can still feel my bottom lip quivering. I didn't want to share my cookies. I'd waited all year for those cookies. Sniff, sniff.

Of course, there was no arguing with Aunt Gladys, so Jeff went home with half of my cookies.

To this day, I can't tell you what those cookies tasted like. But I have memories of decorating those cookies. 

And isn't that what the holidays are all about. Sharing memories and making new ones. 

By the way, one of the girls' plates did fall to the floor. Luckily, we were able to save most of them. And those that were lost got replaced from Grammy's stash. 

In closing, I'd like like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very merry Christmas. May your stockings be stuffed and your cookies unbroken. :)

Merry Christmas, y'all!