Christmas Hand Cookies

There are all the Christmas cookies, displayed on the table, but the kids favorite ones are those that are shaped like hands. Thats because their own hands were used as the patterns for the Christmas cookies. Make all sorts of designs on the hands depending upon the various edible items you can use to decorate them.

Mix two cups of all-purpose flour, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a half-teaspoon of baking powder together in a large bowl. Set aside for now. Beat together a stick of butter (8 tablespoons) or margarine and a cup of sugar. If youre using butter use the unsalted kind. Beat these until they are fluffy then add one egg. Beat the butter, sugar and egg until they are smooth. Add this to the flour mixture.

Beat the ingredients until they are well-combined. Add a teaspoon of vanilla and thoroughly mix all ingredients. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes. While it chills make the patterns youll use for the hands as well as the edible accents. Have kids place their hands on parchment paper or even a piece cut from a clean, brown paper bag. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and put wax paper or parchment paper on one or two cookie sheets - depending upon how many cookies youre making. Lightly flour a surface and roll the dough out on it. The dough should be rolled so that it is about an eighth-inch thick. Lay the hand shapes on the cookie dough and draw around them with a paring knife. Place the hand cookies on the baking sheets and refrigerate them for 15 to 20 minutes. There are several ways to make the Christmas hand cookies even more delicious. One technique is done before baking and the other one is created after the cookies have baked and cooled. To decorate the cookies before baking whisk an egg white with a teaspoon of water. Apply this mixture to places on the hand cookies to create the designs you want. Draw a heart shape, a diamond ring or other embellishments with the egg white. Sprinkle colored sugar over the egg areas immediately after apply the mixture. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Remove and allow to cool. Make a different type of Christmas hand cookies by spreading frosting on them. You can sprinkle colored sugar on these, if you want, to create rings or other designs. No matter how you decorate the cookies you can be sure that kids - as well as adults - will absolutely love them!