French Toast Sugar Cookies

Yummy note: It is a Snow Day! Actually more of a cold weather day for my daughter's school. The phrase every kid wants to hear when it is so cold and yucky outside and all you want to do is stay inside.  And have hot chocolate and cookies (well, that is according to my 7 year old daughter :). So in order to make the snow day complete, we HAD to make some cookies! What a perfect time to use my Secret Recipe Club monthly pick from White Lights on Wednesday. We were looking to make a new type of cookie, so we searched around  and found French toast sugar cookies. This was the top pick with the kids, while her adorable Elmo sugar cookies came in a close second with them. However, we didn't have an Elmo cookie cutter, so they decided no and regular sugar cookies didn't sound as interesting to them. But a breakfast-like cookie with maple syrup in them? Yes, please! Did I mention that Julie from White Lights on Wednesday did an awesome 12 days of Christmas cookies series? Oh, so that is why I think cookies were on the brain for this month :) as I kept seeing one delicious cookie after another. However, I did manage to try out another recipe that was fantastic, so if cookies aren't your cup of tea, try her Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread! 

French Toast Sugar Cookies 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter* - room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

* Instead of butter, we used Earth Balance Sweet Cinnamon Organic Culinary Spread; which was an awesome replacement as it added an extra cinnamon flavor in our cookies! 

Icing:

1 pound powdered sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

1 to 2 tsp of milk or water

cinnamon/sugar for garnish

Directions: 

Cream together butter and sugar. Next, add egg and vanilla and mix until combined well. In a large measuring cup or small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk while adding it into the first mixture. Note to begin and end with the flour mixture. Once cookie dough is well mixed, chill the dough for about 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Then roll out the cookie dough about 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out cookies in a square or rectangular shape and place on a prepared (parchment paper lined) baking sheet. Bake cookies for about 9 minutes, depending on the cookie size. Move cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely before putting on the frosting. Julie's original frosting recipe was butter based and it made a thicker spreadable frosting, but we were looking to make more of an icing instead without using butter. So we modified the frosting recipe to just mix together the powdered sugar in a large bowl with the maple syrup and vanilla. Then you add milk or water a little bit at a time, mixing well, until the frosting reaches a desired consistency. Frost cookies and sprinkle with a little cinnamon/sugar. These cookies stay nice and soft for days, they really were wonderful. Shh, don't tell but the kids and I even had one for a breakfast snack the one day since they were so delicious and tasted just like a cinnamon-sugary french toast.  

  

Our  secret ingredient - Earth Balance Sweet Cinnamon Organic Culinary Spread.

My kitchen help :)

A special add-in: If you can find these cinnamon chips, add about a 1/4 cup of them into the dough, they were a fantastic addition and an added pop of cinnamon flavor!  

Roll chilled dough out to about 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface. 

Cut cookies to square or rectangular shapes. 

Nice puffy cookies - make for a light, flaky delicious cookie!

A nice big pile of french toast sugar cookies. The kids thought they kind of looked like homemade poptarts! 

Delicious!!

 You must try this from White Lights on Wednesday, too--
Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread!

Don't forget and take a look at the fun all of the other Secret Recipe Club Members are having!