Vanilla Butter Frosting

Twelve Days of Cookie Baking — Day 4

Create memories your families and friends will savor for years to come

This is the frosting recipe that Ann Jonas uses with her mother’s white cutout cookies. Originally from Betty Crocker, this recipe could be described as not too soft, not too hard — just right for either piping or spreading to decorate your holiday cookies. CJK

Vanilla Butter Frosting

(Ann Jonas)

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. milk

Mix sugar and margarine or butter; stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth. Add desired food coloring.

Yield: About 3 1/3 cups

A note from Ann: If you want the frosting to be a little thinner, add more milk. If you want it thicker, add less milk. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar. It’s easy to adjust it accordingly.

A note from Carol: I enjoyed visiting with Ann as she recalled fond memories of the fun times when she baked and decorated cookies with her growing family. She remembered the kids losing interest after about two pans of the cookies baking but when it was time to frost them, their enthusiasm peaked again because they could lick the frosting off of the knives. “It was one of the messiest activities,” Ann reminisced.  “But the kids loved every minute of it.”

Ann Jonas’ son, David, and her daughter, Emily, show off freshly baked and 

decorated Christmas cookies with Ann’s youngest sister, Jacki, and her daughter,

Beth, in this 1987 photo taken in Ann’s parents’ home in Farming. (Photo courtesy 

of Ann Jonas)