Alphabet Letterpress Cookies... YUM!

Well, I finally did it! For the first time in my life, I made cookies from SCRATCH! ... And they were AWESOME! Thanks to the holiday break, I turned into a mama with too much time on my hands and a need to express my creative, crafty, homemaking side! I attempted to use an old recipe that my mom had passed onto me years ago, but as I was mixing the ingredients, it never really formed into dough, so I tweaked it a little and unbelievably, the cookies came out perfectly and so super tasty! After a few (dozen or so) test bites, I had enough to ice, sprinkle and decorate with candy during naptime and after, with the twins and my handmade sweets tow, we made Christmas deliveries the hospital, printshop and lucky neighbors!

Now that all of the cookies have been eaten, I haven't been able to stop thinking about making more. But because they are so time consuming, energy draining and tough to clean up after, I have resisted the urge to whip out my rolling pin once again. That was until today, when I found these Ah-mazing letterpress cookie cutters on Paper Source! Some genius found a way to combine my love of typography and baking, and now the possibilities of incorporating these cookies into fun learning games with my boys are flooding my mind!

I know Christmas is over and Santa is long gone, but I think I'm just going to have to treat myself to this gift! And at only $18.95 for 26 letters, an ampersand and an exclamation point, I know I'll never find such an amazing deal! So if you guys are in the cookie baking mood, you're going to LOVE this Fabulous Friday Freebie! Below is my mother's handed-down butter cookie recipe, tweaked by yours truly! And if you happen to use the letterpress cookie cutters, please post pics to share and possible learning games to use with these alphabet cookies!

Heather's Butter Cookies

(makes about 2 dozen cookies)

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix until a putty like consistency is formed.

1.5 cups sifted cake flour
2 sticks melted unsalted butter
.75 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
.5 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

When a putty like dough consistency is realized, remove from mixer. Cut the dough into four equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Cover your workspace and rolling pin with an even heavy coat of flour and one at a time, roll each ball of dough out with a rolling pin until a flat even surface is formed into the shape of an oval with about a quarter of an inch thickness in height. Use your cookie cutter to cut out shapes of dough and place carefully on your baking sheet, about half of an inch apart. Place baking sheet into an oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until edges of cookies begin to brown. Cool thoroughly, remove from pan, and start decorating!