C is for Cookie!!

A week or two ago, we were strolling through the grocery store for our weekly stock up run when my oldest son stopped to admire the refrigerated cookie dough section.  Usually I wheel quickly past since I prefer to make my cookies from scratch.  This time I let my son convince me that it would be good to have some ready-made chocolate chip cookie dough on hand.  He suggested that we could just keep it in the fridge and eat it raw.  (Isn't it funny how kids figure out how to exploit our weaknesses??)  In some sense of duty to make sure that he understands that you aren't actually supposed to eat it raw, I suggested that we make a cookie pizza and decorate it with icing.  He agreed and we headed on about our business. 

Once we got the dough home, it was loaded in a drawer of the fridge and promptly forgotten (by me anyway).  A couple of weeks later, my son ran across it and reminded me of my promise.  So once little brother was down for a nap, we rolled it out.  Well, maybe it was closer to pounding.  That stuff is very hard when it is cold!

Tip:  We rolled it out between two layers of parchment paper.  When it was the desired thickness, we peeled off the top layer and slid the rest onto a cookie sheet.  No mess = No cleanup!!

Once the cookie was baked to golden brown and delicious perfection...it was bedtime.  So we wrapped it up for the night and came back to it the next day!  Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Anyway, the next day I started getting together my ingredients for the icing.  I usually use all butter, but I didn't have enough.  I decided to subsitute with butter flavored Crisco, and I was very pleased with the end product. 

Here is the recipe that I used:

Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla flavoring
1 Tbsp milk

I never remember to soften my butter in advance, so I usually throw the cold butter in my KitchenAid mixer and beat it into submission.  Once it gets creamy, you can add the Crisco. 

Next, it is time to work in the powdered sugar at low speed.  (BTW, I never sift it first.  I figure that the mixer can break up the lumps.  I haven't had a problem yet!)

Once the sugar is in, it is time to add the vanilla.  Make sure that you shake it up well before you measure it out.  The good stuff settles to the bottom when it is on the shelf. 

The last step is to adjust the consistency.  Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it is thin enough to pipe or spread.  If you do too much, you can compensate by adding a little more powdered sugar.  This is also the time to add color, if desired.

What you end up with is a bowl full of fluffy goodness that is ready to spread or pipe onto the confection of your choice. 

Finally, here is a picture of our end product.  Keep in mind that it was completely decorated by my 9 year old son.  Ok, I admit that I helped a bit with the border.  By the time we were finishing up, he had gotten bored with decorating and just wanted to eat the leftover icing with a spoon.  Kids!



My son's yellow buttercream castle cookie pizza.