Frosted Sugar Cookies

As odd as it sounds, in our almost 5 years of marriage, we've never done any Christmas baking! I actually had no plans to this year either, but the cravings for a delicious frosted cookie got the better of me. And this recipe is soooooo good!! We halved it so as to not have an excess of cookies, and it made plenty to eat and to share (and to hopefully save a couple for Santa). I got the recipes from the newspaper, but Better Homes & Gardens is attributed for the frosting.

Cookies:
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
5 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Frosting:
6 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 - 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whole, skim, or evaporated milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

For the cookies, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix completely. Dissolve baking soda in hot water, add to bowl and blend well.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternating milk with dry ingredients, add to the cream-sugar mixture, mixing thoroughly each time. Cover and chill, at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and grease two baking sheets (or you can use parchment paper, that is what I did).
Roll dough out on a floured surface until 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Place on prepared baking sheets. (Tip: you can use powdered sugar in place of flour, it blends into the cookie better, but doesn't make it too sweet either.)
Bake until lightly brown, 7-10 minutes. Let cook completely.

For the frosting, in a small mixer bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add half of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in the milk and the vanilla. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar and additional milk, if necessary to make the frosting spreading consistency. Frost cookies. (We make the frosting a little thinner to make sure we had enough. We made a lot of small cookies, as well as regular sized, so we weren't sure how far it would go. Plus it was easier to spread and make look pretty, plus we were able to pipe some, using sandwich baggies, to decorate the trees and to make the stripes on the candy canes.)