Holiday Family Traditions
| November 15, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Dessert, Family, FitFluential, Reviews |
When I was grocery shopping yesterday I suddenly realized that Christmas music was playing over the loud speaker. I got a warm and fuzzy feeling and immediately wanted to be snuggled up on the couch with hot cocoa. Thanksgiving is coming upon us fast and Christmas is right around the corner. The Christmas season starts immediately following Thanksgiving in the G house, as it has my entire life.
Growing up I could count on one thing the morning after Thanksgiving … my mom blasting “Mary’s Boy Child” through the house to wake me up to begin decorating. Out would come the tree, the advent wreath, and we would wrap every hanging picture in our house as a present. I have carried some of that goodness forward with me as I have started my own family. Mary’s Boy Child will be playing loud and proud next Friday and Chris will be putting up our tree. I can’t wait.
Another holiday tradition in our house is the baking. My sister and I would make elaborate sugar cookies every year and decorate them as gifts to family friends. It was an all-day affair. Even though we are too many states to count apart, our sugar cookies live on. I even made them for Emmalyne’s first birthday party as an excuse to make them twice this year.
This year I had the opportunity to partner with Smart Balance to help make my sugar cookies a little healthier. Smart Balance has tons of products including better butters, milk, cooking oils, peanut butter, and popcorn! You can see everything they offer HERE. For my sugar cookies, I used the Blended Butter Sticks which are a prefer 1-1 swap with regular butter. They are made with real butter and canola oil with the added bonus of plant sterols and omega-3s. The plant sterols actually help block the cholesterol in the butter. All Smart Balance products are gluten free and they even have vegan options available. After my dad’s heart attack and Chris’ family history of heart disease, cholesterol and heart health has become a very important priority in our house.
The best part about using this healthy swap? You can’t taste a difference 
See for yourself …
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert
Ingredients (3 dozen)
Dough
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Smart Balance blended butter sticks
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I use Chobani)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Frosting
- 1/3 cup Smart Balance blended butter sticks
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
For the Dough
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Using a sifter, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium sized bowl.
Using a stand mixer, cream together the sugar, butter, and egg.
Add the Greek yogurt and vanilla to the mixer.
Slowly mix in the dry ingredients.
Cover with a wet towel and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick.
Cut out your cookie shapes.
Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets and cook for 8-10 minutes or until edges are just golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack until completely cooled.
For the Frosting
Beat the butter and gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar.
Slowly beat in the milk, vanilla, and almond extract.
Add remaining sugar.
For directions as to how to frost the sugar cookies you can refer to this post. I used royal icing in that one but the same trick applies to this icing.
This holiday season Smart Balance is trying to #HelpSanta be a little healthier. You can follow along by following @SantasCookies and @SmartBalance on Twitter. When making your own cookies for Santa, think about swapping in Smart Balance butters and products for a little extra oomph.
What’s your favorite family holiday tradition?
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Fitfluential LLC compensated me for this campaign. All opinions are my own.
Thanks for the recipe!! I’m so excited to start holiday traditions with the little one this year;) We’re going to do elf on the shelf, christmas PJ’s and a book on Christmas eve and we’re crafting an advent calender now!
Kelsey recently posted..Shmercentile.
The recipe sounds great.
Our tradition is to decorate gingerbread men after Thanksgiving dinner every year to welcome in the Christmas season. Oh, and lots of Bing Crosby music.
Abby @ BackAtSquareZero recently posted..Post Injury Running Plan
Awesome recipe! I also love your Christmas tree, ahhh I can’t wait to decorate when Josh and I have our own place next Christmas!
Erin @ Girl Gone Veggie recently posted..Veggie Reviewed 2
I love sugar cookies, but they seem so intimidating to frost! I think I’m going to give these a shot, they look amazing! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Sylvia @ Frolic Through Life recently posted..Running Warm in the Cold
The tutorial I posted definitely takes the intimidation factor down a bit. Let me know what you think of the cookies!
those are some seriously pretty cookies. mine are always so terribly decorated. I did not inherit the art gene from my mother… o.O haha
thanks for the recipe. definitely pinning for the holiday season
Charlotte recently posted..Name it and Claim it: 2013 – The Year I Become a Surfer
Thanks girl
Years of practice haha. If you follow my tutorial though I bet yours will be GORG.
I love the holiday season, mainly for the baking opportunities. Your cookies look way better than mine! I agree with Charlotte – no art genes in me at all. At least they taste good. Thanks for giving your thoughts and recipe about Smart Balance. Much appreciated.
AlexandraFunFit recently posted..Holiday Fitness Gift List
Oh boy sugar cookies are my all time favorite. Love me some blue frosting! Not sure I’ll make them this year because it’s something I usually can’t stop at just 2 or 3. That might be an issue with some goals I set for myself ha ha
But boy your post made me think again. I’ll have to pin the cookies and decide soon.
Can’t wait to get our Christmas tree up. I brought the box upstairs, now I just need to figure out where I put the ornaments last season lol
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