PS – I Love You Sugar Cookies

Based on I Love You Through and Through
by Carolyn Jane Church

One of our favorite and first books is I Love You Through and Through by Carolyn Jane Church. The simple rhyming story lists all the qualities that we love our children for — I love your happy side, sad side, silly side, mad side, and more! Even though we are now reading chapter books, I pull out this sweet board book about a boy and his teddy bear to remind my sons that I love them unconditionally – all of their qualities and feelings are precious to me.  I love them through and through!  

I Love Your Through and Through

Nutrition
Nibble:

I think telling our children that we love them is important to their security and development, but that’s just my opinion. However, research in the fields of nutrition, psychology and social work has found that cooking together brings families closer and strengthens cultural ties. Take the time to make “the family recipe” no matter what it is and improve the communication between family members and strengthen the bonds of your family and community. If you don’t have a family recipe, you can whip out my Auntie’s recipe for P.S. I Love You Sugar Cookies, and know that you are doing more for your family than providing a sweet treat, you are making memories with each other and ensuring a tradition continues into the future.

Makes: 3 dozen cookies – depending on shape
Contains: Milk, Egg, Wheat

Challenge Level: Piece of Cake
Active Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the Sugar Cookies:

  • 1½ sticks unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup applesauce
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2¾ cups all purpose flour

For the Icing:

  • ⅔ cup powdered sugar
  • 1½ tablespoons milk
  • ⅛ teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, convection bake.
  2. Combine butter, sugar, egg, and extracts in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until smooth.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer. When dough forms and is light and fluffy, stop.
  5. Divide the dough into 4 sections.
  6. Roll out each section of dough on a lightly floured silpat to ¼ inch thick. Make sure to flour your rolling pin too. Set the silpat on a cookie sheet and chill the rolled dough in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.
  7. Choose your favorite cookie cutters to make shapes. Remove excess dough and roll it to make more cookies. Repeat until you have used all the dough.
  8. Bake for about 5 minutes. Note: Color is not an indication of doneness.
  9. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

To ice the cookies: This is easy! Mix together some powdered sugar, milk and almond extract. Drizzle icing on each cookie and let it set before eating or storing your cookies.

Kids Can
  • Sift dry ingredients
  • Roll the dough
  • Choose and stamp the cookie cutters
  • Decorate
Watch Out For
  • Over or under-chilling cookie dough
  • Raw dough isn’t safe to eat, no matter how tempting!