Easter cookies

Like so many others, I love Uncle Seth's Pink Cookies. I had tried a wannabe recipe before, with unimpressive results, but I think I got a bit closer this time.



For the cookie recipe, I adapted a recipe sent by a friend, the so-called Farmhouse cookie:

To this, I added about 1/2 tsp ground cardamom. In lieu of 1 tsp vanilla, I used about 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extract. I rolled the cookies 1/4" thick and cut out flowers. For me, baking time was on the shorter side--no more than 8 minutes.

For the frosting, I used this recipe from allrecipes.com. I had some trouble creaming together the sugar and shortening. I eventually found success by mixing half the sugar into the shortening little by little, then adding the milk in parts alternating with the rest of the sugar. As with the cookies, I used part almond extract and part vanilla extract. I used neon food coloring for my rockin' Easter pastels.

These got rave reviews at church and with family. I think next time, I'll add a bit more cardamom to the dough. And perhaps try out a different frosting recipe, although this one was pretty good.