Happy...errrr...Valentine's Day?

Just a couple of weeks late, huh? My VA medicine team was on call on Valentine's Day* (great fun, huh?), so I decided to make some cookies to take in. Though I have found a couple of recipes that I do like, I'm always curious to see what new recipes taste like. The recipe I used this time is from a cookbook I received in a little contest at Cathy's site. She just recently went through the entire book and I could never find it in the bookstores. Now I have it! Thanks Kathy! The book is Maida Heatters Book of Great Cookies. I haven't had a chance to make any other recipes, but there are many that look wonderful. ANYWAY, back to the sugar cookies. I'm pretty picky about my sugar cookies. I don't like them thin and crispy but a little bite around the edges is good. These had a great texture. As to taste, I thought they were a little bland. Don't really know what needs to be added, but if you are putting icing on them anyway, it doesn't matter that much! I decided to just take the plain cookies, a spray can of icing, and a selection of sprinkles to our team room. They turned out to be a hit! One of our interns wasn't feeling good that day and the "blandness" was good for him. The other intern had fun sweetening her cookies. And Sarah? Well, let's just say she's got some sweet lips! Plain Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
3 1/4 cups AP flour (sifted)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk

Sift dry ingredients together. In a mixer, cream the butter. Add the vanilla and sugar to this and beat well. One at a time, add the eggs and then the milk. On low, add the dry ingredients, scraping bowl as needed. Divide the dough and wrap each half in wax paper or cling wrap then in aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or longer (I did it overnight).

When ready, preheat the oven to 400 degress F. Place one piece of dough on a lightly floured pastry cloth (I used waxed paper and it worked fine). Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness using a floured rolling pin (or one of those awesome marble pins...I so want one!). Using the cookie cutters of your choice, cut out the cookies. Keep rolling and cutting until all of the dough is used. Transfer the cookies to a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly browned. Decorate as desired!

*Sorry for the poor picture quality...call does not lend to good pictures and all the cookies got eaten. Was not expecting that!