T-minus 5 days until Christmas! It’s hard to believe. I’m super super excited to see my family and friends.

Plus I just love this time of year. All of the excuses to bake and bake and bake! I love it!

Then, I get to eat and eat and eat! 😉

…then, run and run and run…again. Haha!

Well, I had a packed weekend: baking, doing yard work, finishing up my Christmas shopping, and then wrapping all the goods! 🙂 Busy busy!

The highlight, of course, was decorating the cookies! I hope you enjoy them!

I also hope you have finished or are nearly finished with your Christmas shopping. 🙂 And if you have time, why not bake a batch of these delicious, yet healthier sugar cookies!

Healthier Sugar Cookies

adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large egg whites

How-To

1. In a bowl, blend together the flours, baking powder and salt.
2. In your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together.
3. Add in the vanilla extract and beat.
4. Add in the egg whites and beat.
5. Add the flour mixture slowly to the butter mixture.
6. Divide the dough in half, form into balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour.
7. Preheat oven to 375°.
8. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4″ thickness.
9. Cut out shapes and place them 1″ apart on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
10. Bake for 7 minutes or until light brown.
11. Follow below instructions to ice your cookies!

Royal Icing

from Wilton

Ingredients

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
• 6 tablespoons warm water (+/- just use your best judgment)

How-To

1. Mix all ingredients with a hand mixer until blended and of the correct consistency.
2. Put in a pastry bag and pipe away!

Don’t forget that the Chobani Giveaway ends tonight!