flour on her nose: Pretty Pastel Cookies

Today, with the addition of a spiffy new faucet for our sink, our kitchen is technically finished. (not at all organized, but finished :D )

To celebrate, I decided to make cookies! Unfortunately, we were out of eggs.
So I scoured the internet for a recipe that called for no eggs, and I found one. It's actually quite nice, but more similar to shortbread than your typical sugar cookie. Because they're rather plain-looking, I decided to ice them, royal style. Haha. :)
I wanted to save up my food coloring, so I made pastel colors. It looks like I'm going to a baby or bridal shower ;)

"Shortbread" Sugar Cookies:
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Cup of Butter
1 Cup of Milk
2 Cups of Flour (more may need to be added, until the dough is less sticky, so keep that in mind)
1 tsp. of Baking Soda
1 tsp. of Baking Powder
1 tsp. of Vanilla
1 tsp. of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. (! I know, but they don't bake very long)
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Dissolve the salt and baking soda in the milk.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Once entirely creamed, add the vanilla.
While the mixer is going, slowly add in the milk mixture. After the milk is incorporated, add in the flour, bit by bit. After the dough is finished, I suggest chilling it for a while in the fridge, to make it easier to work with. Either way, when you're ready, roll out the dough and cut out your desired shapes. I used the rim of a glass, whatever you have on hand works :)
Bake cookies about 10-15 minutes. Really, whenever you notice the edges are getting a little brown. This especially depends on your oven. While they cool, get started on your royal icing.

Royal Icing:
by Alton Brown
Copied and pasted because it's easier that way :)

"3 ounces pasteurized egg whites (that's about 3 egg whites. You know Alton and his preciseness)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar

In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days."

For the base color, I just spread the icing over the cookies with a knife. For the white piping, I cut the tiniest corner imaginable off of the tip of a plastic baggie. Make sure to clean the tip of that quite often, though, as the icing dries over the tip very quickly and makes it hard to make straight lines. I know -___-

So yay! First installment of flour on her nose. Stay tuned for more! (probably cookies. I love cookies. :D )