Gale Gand's Butter Cookie Dough (perfect for cookie cutters)

I bought the giant tree and snowflake cookie cutters years ago from Williams and Sonoma.  I also have a reindeer but he is trickier to cut and is very fragile when decorating.  I just love watching kids decorate the big cookies!!  I have added some of the smaller shapes over the years and always cut hearts where I have little bits of space on the dough.

In the next few minutes, a niece and nephew will be here to decorate.  I felt I should bake the cookies before their arrival so they'll be cool.  They are only 2 and 3 years old and will likely loose interest and I wanted them to return home with some of their handy work.

Well, I was wrong, they hung in there until we were done.  The 2 year old, W, loved working with the gum drops and the M&M's.  The 3 year old, K, loved the sprinkles and wanted no help.  Big sister, A, kept things moving along.  And of course my son, C, had a blast just having company.  While the cookies dried, we played Candyland together and then played with the Thomas Trains while the older 2 built Mousetrap.  I love the holidays, where we just "do stuff."  We had a wonderful afternoon together while Mom got a shopping errand done!!

This dough, when rolled out thick, and accommodate a stick.  Recipe soon, otherwise head to the Valentine's post with the heart shaped cookies on a stick.