Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies

Here's the recipe I always use to make sugar cookies for my son. Make them as thick as you want them when you roll out as they do not rise. If they are too thin you get a crispy cookie instead of a soft one. At the bottom is a recipe substitute for a gingerbread cookie I came up with last year. My 7 year old loves them. I keep them in the freezer year around for him. They are a spicy cookie and not everyone likes them. If you think they would be too spicy, only use the cocoa and make chocolate cookies and they will still look like gingerbread men. Test bake a pan or 2 with just a few cookies on them. The cookies are done when they are set in the middle.

You don't have to cut these out if you don't want too. For easy round cookies, just roll into balls and smash with a flat bottom of a glass that's been dipped in sugar.

I am getting ready to make a double batch of the sugar cookies for my son. I will make Halloween shapes, my Christmas shapes, valentine's and Easter shapes all at once and freeze them. I will also make some round ones (that I don't cut out) and place 5-8 mini semi sweet M&M's on them. He loves those in his lunchbox. The semi-sweet M&M's have less phe than the milk chocolate mini M&M's.

Good luck and have fun making them!

Patty
mom of Jack, 7 CPKU
MO
Here's what I use to make my son gingerbread men in the winter. He loves them so much I have to keep them in the freezer all the time. I just make balls and flatten with a glass dipped in sugar and we call those gingersnaps.

Little Phe Sugar Cookies
>
> 3/4 c. butter flavor crisco
>
> 2 TB sugar
>
> 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
>
> 1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding mix (8 PHE)
>
> 1 tsp vanilla
>
> 1/3 cup water
>
> 270 grams (2 cups) wheat starch (22 phe)
>
> 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
>
> 1/2 tsp salt
>
> Cream shortening and sugars. Add pudding, vanilla and water. Mix well.
> Mix together with whisk starch, powder & salt.. Add to sugars and mix
> until combined. It makes a soft dough. I usually let it chill for 30
> minutes or longer before rolling out, however, the dough is still
> soft. I roll my dough on the thick side- I think the cookies look
> better and hold up better.
> Cookies do not spread during baking. You can sprinkle with sugar now
> or leave plain to decorate with icing. Bake at 375 for about 5-8 minutes.
> Watch
> carefully, you don't want them to brown. Total phe: 30 mg, phe per
> cookie depends on size, but mine are usually just one phe.
>
>
>
> Little Phe Gingerbread Men Cookies- these have a very mild flavor and
> look like big phe gingerbread men
>
> To the wheat starch mixture, add the following:
>
> 2 TB cocoa (130 phe)
>
> 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (6 phe)
>
> 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
>
> Total phe: 166, phe per cookie depends on size.

Second Recipe:
Every now and then I have a happy accident in the kitchen...and tonight I ended up with the best lo pro cookies I have ever made...! (sorry, I know....it's the simple things that make me happy... ) My son is in first grade this year and the very first "food project" is this week...they are decorating sugar cookies to look like lions.

I used my standby Almost Free Sugar Cookie recipe, but I didn't have enough shortening so I used 1/4 cup Parkay margarine (in the tub) and 1/2 cup shortening. When I got it all mixed up, it was REALLY sticky still so I added another 1/2 cup of wheat starch. I normally just roll balls of dough and then flatten them with a glass covered in sugar but I wanted to make those big round soft sugar cookies like you can buy at the bakery. So...I used a lot of wheat starch on my counter, my hands and the rolling pin and carefully rolled out the dough. Then I used a big plastic Quik Trip cup (44 oz!) to cut out the cookies and I only baked them for 7 min instead of 9 like I normally do since these are thinner. They are perfect!! I only got 9 cookies from the whole recipe so the phe count is a tad higher than for the "regular" sized ones but...the whole recipe still only has 36 mg of phe!

New and Improved Almost Free Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
1/4 cup Parkay margarine (in the tub)
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 pkg (4 srvg size) instant vanilla pudding (8 mg phe)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 cups wheat starch (28 mg phe)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375. Cream shortening, margarine and sugars. Add pudding, vanilla and water. Mix well. Add wheat starch, baking powder and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined. Dough will be a bit sticky. Roll out using wheat starch to prevent sticking. For the big cookies, I baked them for 7 minutes. (They didn't really look done but now that they are cooled off, they look perfect.)

Phe for total recipe is 36 mg. I ended up with 9 big cookies so that's 4 mg each. Still not bad!