Soccer Ball Cookies

Last week, I thought it would be a great idea to volunteer to make soccer ball cookies for the last game of my son's soccer season. I've never made anything that boggled my mind so much. Pentagons and hexagons, spheres and circles....what was I thinking?! I've spent many nights and weekends getting to know these kids, watching them play, and visiting with fellow soccer parents. It's a good thing I like them so much, since these cutie-patootie cookies were a lot of work! They went quickly once I figured all the shapes out. Well worth it, and much deserved, for sure.

I needed a hard-ish sugar cookie I could make a 6" diameter circle from that wouldn't fall apart. I used Wilton's Roll-Out Cookie recipe, as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Makes: About 3 dozen cookies.

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 400°F. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. wide and 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

To decorate these guys, they needed to be completely cooled, then warm a can of white frosting and outline circle and fill the whole thing in. It should be thin enough to level out and dry in a nice, smooth texture. I bought a tube of black icing, since the black is such a concentrated color, and piped it in a pentagon shape in the center and worked my out to the edges, finishing it off in a black outline around the whole cookie. After an hour, they are dry enough to put in cellophane bags.  

Easy peasy Soft Ginger & Molasses Cookies

Fantastic & easy cookie recipe for the fall (or anytime at my house). Originally from

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/big-soft-ginger-cookies/Detail.aspx  The smell of my house, alone, is enough to bring the neighbors knocking!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.