This weather….

One moment it’s -2 degrees and 3 days later it’s 60 degrees. Then a couple days later it’s going to flood and then winter will be back again.

Climate change? Call it what you will, but this type of weather is the reason why I no longer store my summer clothes anymore..LOL!

During the polar vortex a lot of us had at the beginning of last month, I decided to dig out the cookie press and make these butter snowflakes in honor of our first big snowfall of the season.

A couple things I’ve learned about using the cookie press: It’s easy to use, it’s fun to use, but the downfall is you have to wait until your cookie sheet(s) cool completely before pumping out more dough onto it or the dough will not stick to it! Honestly, I only used the cookie press once, so using it was a learning process.

The cookies came out nicely, except for a few, but again, I’m learning. I even used blue food coloring to a few of the cookies to make them a little more fun. I did a couple shapes as well.

If you don’t have a cookie press, don’t worry! You can find one here and here, or just drop a small amount of dough onto the cookie sheet and sprinkle some sanding sugar on top.

BUTTER SNOWFLAKES
Makes about 6 dozen

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup softened margarine
1 (3 oz) pkg. softened cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange zest

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.
• In a medium-sized bowl, sift together flour, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
• In a mixer bowl with paddle attachment, cream together margarine and cream cheese. Add sugar and egg yolk; continue to mix together until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla extract and orange zest.
• Gradually blend in dry ingredients.
• Fill a cookie press with dough and form cookies onto unprepared and cool cookie sheets.
• Bake 12-15 minutes in preheated oven until cookies are golden brown on the peaks and on the bottoms. Remove from the oven to cool on wire racks. Be sure to allow time for cookie sheets to cool before pressing more cookies onto them.