It's the Great Pumpkin (Cookie), Charlie Brown!

What's cookin' today? Find out by checking out Rhoda's recipe party over at Southern Hospitality.

Today I thought I'd share a recipe for iced sugar cookies that can be used throughout the holidays. I took some time last Friday afternoon to bake some with my girls.

{Rolled Sugar Cookies}

from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. butter, softened

2 c. white sugar

4 eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

5 c. all purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill for at least one hour. It should look like this when you put it in the fridge:
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F. Roll dough on floured surface to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6 to 8 minutes. Cool completely.

I made the mistake of giving a preschooler and a toddler rolling pins. You can see Michaela Byrd brandishing hers like a pair of nunchucks. Also, I have no words for the mess on my fridge. I'm sorry.

So many, many little hands in the dough. So glad we weren't giving these away to anyone!

Some people have different rolling techniques than others....

When it's all said and done, you have a nice batch of cookies.

I love it when they don't burn on the underside!

Time to ice!

{Icing}

Recipe from my friend Susanne

Take 1 stick of (slightly softened) butter and 1/2 stick of Crisco (eew, I know!) and place them in a bowl or mixer. I used my Kitchen Aid for this job. Mix until really smooth.

Add 1 t. vanilla, 4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar, and mix really well on low speed. Add 1 T of milk if the icing is too stiff and thick.

We decided to color some of our pumpkin cookies, and I managed to find a box of Wilton's coloring pastes at AC Moore. I used a 40% off coupon and only paid about $8 for 12 icing colors.

It's hard to get a good shade of orange, but this is what we got:

Some people insisted on wearing their pumpkin hats during this stage.

All that's left to do is sample your work (after eating a good dinner, of course)!

And because they completely wore me out I was feeling like an extra nice Mommy, I let them watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown after dinner and dessert.

According to tvguide.com, this will be airing on Tuesday, October 27th, at 8 pm (ET). I love this classic!

Have you started any Fall traditions? We're at the pumpkin patch this morning with our MOPS friends. This is a fun new tradition for us: cookies, a movie, and then finding some real pumpkins!