cookie party in mickey's pants

Or should I say cookie party OF Mickey's pants?
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Yes! I actually baked! For the first time in about 2 weeks! And I have a recipe for you! 

Mickey's pants! I'm still working on the hand shake with the camera, and my lens' aperture isn't great for low-light, so they're a little blurry, but here they are!

Tommy showed me this recipe a few days ago and really wanted to make it, and of course I love any opportunity to bake.

Though minor disasters did ensue. As they always do when I bake.

First off, we were going to bake in Tommy's dorm building. And then we didn't have any ingredients, so we walked about half a mile down to Harris Teeter, got the stuff, and then walked back. About 45 minutes total.

Then, we didn't have anything to really bake with. So we called up Angie, she picked us up, and we went back to her apartment. She had some reliable bowls and whisks to use [read: her silverware hadn't been sitting in dorm kitchen drawers and cabinets for lord knows how many years], so we were psyched. We washed her dishes, picked out some bowls and cleared some counter space, and got to work. Good!

Oh, wait, no hand-held mixer. So we whisked the butter and sugar frantically to make them 'light and fluffy.' Which they weren't. Because we didn't have a hand-held mixer.

But it was alright, because who really needs to use a hand-held mixer? If anything they'll just be...denser. Right? Right. So we're good to go!

Oh, wait, I left the white chocolate in the dorm kitchen fridge. So Angie and Tommy drove back to get that while I dyed the dough red.

Great! Bright red, as Mickey's pants should be, sugary sweet dough [taste-testing unbaked cookie dough is one of life's greatest pleasures], white chocolate buttons on hand, ready to go.

Oh, wait, no rolling pin. So naturally we use a canister of sugar. It worked out pretty well, actually.

"not the gumdrop buttons!"

SO CUTE. Ack. I just about died from adorableness. They were a little rough around the edges because we had to cut them with a knife and paper template, but they turned out pretty well.

They did end up a little crispy because we weren't quite sure how powerful Angie's stove was, and overbaked them by about a minute or two. But after I left after the first batch, Angie and Tommy lowered the baking time some and I'm sure the rest turned out fantastic.

Mickey Mouse Sugar Cookies

For the sugar cookies, you'll need:

• 1 1/4 cups butter [2 1/2 sticks], softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt

For the 'decoration,' you'll need:

• red food coloring
• yogurt-covered raisins [we used white chocolate chips, because Tommy's not a huge fan of yogurt-covered raisins]
• Mickey Mouse pants template, found here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly butter the surface of a cookie sheet. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and mix well. Add cream of tartar, salt, and flour and mix until dough starts to form. Use your hands to knead dough. Dye dough red with food coloring [we ended up using quite a lot of food coloring]. Once color is uniform, knead dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut cookie cutter template and sprinkle flour over a flat, dry surface to roll dough out on. Roll dough to a little more than 1/2-inch thick. Using a knife, cut around the cookie cutter and gently lift off the surface. Bake for 10-12 minutes; let cookies cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from pan. Finish cooling cookies on a wire rack.

Can we go to Disney World now?