For the student population at Penn, the next few days are going to be a living nightmare. Everyone is dealing with the stress of final papers, exams and even just trying to find a spot in the library. How do I like to cope with this stress? Stress-baking (soon followed by stress-eating).
Baking is a pretty mindless task when it comes down to it and gives you a nice little break from your work. You’ll be spreading holiday cheer, eating delicious cookies and staying sane all at the same time.
Try the recipe below if you are looking for an easy Christmas sugar cookie recipe.
Christmas sugar cookies (from The Cookie Cookbook)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 3 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
- In large bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in sugar, vanilla extract and egg yolk until combined.
- Reduce speed to low; beat in 1 cup of the flour. With a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour until just combined.
- Divide dough into 3 pieces. Shape each into a disk, then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or freeze for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll 1 disk of dough to about 1/8 inch thickness, lifting edges of dough and re-flouring work surface as necessary. Keep remaining dough chilled.
- With cookie cutters, cut out as many cookies as possible. Place on ungreased baking sheets about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes. Cool for 1 minute on baking sheets, then remove on wire racks and cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough and rerolled chilled scraps. Serve plain or decorate with icing and sprinkles.
You can use baking as something to help you pace your studying and keep you from falling asleep. Take the butter and cream cheese out to soften and then get through 2 lecture PowerPoints. After the butter has softened, follow directions 1, 2 and 3. Then while you’re waiting for the batter to firm up, hit the books again. When you really need a break, take out one disk and start cutting out cookies. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, simply use a cup to make round cookies. After baking the cookies, get creative decorating them with sprinkles and frosting and forget about school for a few minutes. Finally, pour yourself a glass of milk and eat your perfect study snack while you get back to listening to all of those lectures you missed.
Happy finals!