Mom's "Good" Sugar Cookies

My sister, Bonnie, and I were discussing our sugar cookie recipe the other day & I commented that mine was called Mom's "Good" sugar cookies. She said hers was called the same thing. We wondered if this was opposed to our Mom's "lousy" sugar cookie recipe! When we asked Mom, she said she labeled it "Good" because it WAS good as opposed to the other recipes she'd tried that weren't so good! Bonnie has made this one with all butter and used 2 tsp. orange extract and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. She said they were a bit richer tasting than the original and that the orange extract added a "brightness" to the cookie. I'm sticking with it made my way! Either is great! The frosting is a wonderful buttercream, great on cakes and cupcakes as well as cookies. I keep leftover frosting in the refrigerator, it keeps well.

Cookie Dough:

1 cup shortening

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

Cream the above & add:

3 - 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix well. Pat into a ball & chill at least an hour. Roll out & cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet & bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Cool & frost. Makes about 4-5 dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened

4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

pinch of salt

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, milk & salt in electric mixer until moistened. Increase speed & beat until creamy & fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes; scrape bow a few times. Frost & decorate cookies as desired.