BASIC COOKIE MIX

Any Basic Cookie Mix:
4 1/2 cups WHOLE WHEAT baking flour (soft wheat) or, (5 cup regular white flour)
1 1/4 cups shortening and/or
3/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened (adjust to your style)
2 teaspoons salt (add in your own flavors as example below)
In a large bowl, blend flour, shortening, butter, and salt with a pastry blender to form a crumbly cookie mix. Store cookie mix in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 1 week. (Give away for holidays and the below recipe)
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups cookie mix
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
In a large bowl, stir together cookie mix, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, vanilla, and egg to form a soft dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the cookie dough out on a floured pastry cloth to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut with a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter and transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven 8 to 9 minutes, or until they are firm. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, then decorate with frosting.
Frosting:
4 tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
red food coloring (Christmas theme, or go to health food store for natural colors)
red and blue M&M’s, for garnish
Beat butter and 1 cup of the confectioners sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add 2 tablespoons of milk, beat well; then beat in the remaining confectioners sugar, milk, and vanilla to form a stiff frosting.
Transfer 3/4 of the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Add enough food coloring to the remaining frosting to tint it red and blend well. Spoon red frosting into another pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
Turn the heart-shaped cookies around so the pointed end is at the top. Place a small swirl of frosting in the middle and top with a red M&M for Santa’s nose. Use white frosting to form Santa’s mustache and beard, then place 2 small swirls of frosting above the beard and top with blue M&M’s for Santa’s eyes. Add a swirl of white frosting over the upper part of each eye for Santa’s eyebrows. Pipe red frosting at the pointed end to form Santa’s hat, and add a small swirl of white for the furry ball at the tip of the hat.
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