Dorothy's Butter Cookies

In case you wanted to make some last minute cookies and happened to have a cookie press laying around. The two are not mutually exclusive, no-oh.

Dorothy was my grandmother. She was kind and jolly and I loved her so much. These are some cookies she used to make, which, like everything she made, cut straight to the heart of things. They're called butter cookies for a reason, and when my mom and I doubled the batch the other day, we gazed down upon six sticks of butter in the bowl, then moved slowly forward.

You'll eat them much faster. Happy Christmas, friends.

3 sticks salted butter, softened (add salt--I'm not sure how much--if you are using unsalted butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

With an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until soft and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, beating as you go. Beat in egg, and finally, the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking power. Gently beat these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, a little bit at a time, until everything is combined. It should form a very thick dough. We used a standard hand mixer (actually two, as our first one was broken by this dough) but if you have a stand mixer, you may want to give the dough hook a try at some point.

Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes or so.

Spoon the cooled dough into a cookie press and press cookies out onto ungreased baking sheets.

Decorate, then bake the cookies in batches, about 7 minutes per batch.

Makes approximately 5 dozen cookies.