Brown Sugar Cookies with Snickerdoodle Frosting

Today is a post without chocolate.

Oops . . . I already failed.

 

This is technically a very fallish cookie.  Lucky for you, I have a very fallish sweet tooth.  (What!  Spell check is telling me that it isn't a real word?  Okay, take this spell check!)  Along with wintryish, and summerish, and springish, but today, its fallish.
 

 

To celebrate my grandpa's 85th birthday, we went out to dinner with my grandparents and uncle's family and then headed back to my grandparent's house for desserts.  So my dad would not be alone in a world of chocolate desserts, I made these for him.

These are brown sugar cookies, because we didn't have any molasses, which is what the original recipe called for.  They are the perfect size for frosting and don't get soggy even after being frosted.  The spices pair delightfully well with the snickerdoodle cookie dough frosting . . .

Oh there is the frosting!  I thought it had disappeared . . . in my stomach. 

Now this frosting is A-Mazing!  While me and my sisters were stirring it, we finally decided to ditch the mixer because it made it to hard to stick our fingers in.  Spatulas are much less dangerous. 

                                     

Brown Sugar Cookies with Snickerdoodle Frosting 

Yield: 12 regular sized cookie sandwiches or 24 mini sandwich cookies

Cookie:

1 stick margarine

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Beat butter and sugar, add egg.  Stir in flour, salt, soda, and spices.  Roll into 24 regular sized cookies or 48 mini cookies.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Frosting:

4 tbsp. margarine

4 tbsp. shortening

2/3 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

up to 1/3 cup milk

Beat butter and shortening, add sugar and salt.  Stir in flour and cinnamon.  Add milk until desires spreading consistency is achieved.

Spread frosting on cookies and top with the remaining cookies.

These cookies have my dad's stamp of approval.  He even ate them without the icing (and the day before my grandpa's birthday without asking, but that's another story) and pronounced them really, really good.  (He actually liked them better without the icing which goes to show my dad tends to like boring desserts.)  Do you how many recipes on this blog have my dad's stamp of approval?  Three.  That's it.  Three.  (Please don't think these are boring . . . because they aren't!)

Dishpan Cookies

Apple Crisp

Snickerdoodle Brownies

Make that four now that we've added these cookies.

My grandpa was turning 85, which is a really big number!  He's got seven decades on me, which is a whole bunch of years.  He has always been in my life; taking me to football and basketball games (all KU of course) on Girl's Days, on walks through his garden, to book stores, the KU Relays . . . he's always been there.  I think as we celebrated his birthday, the reality that he probably won't be here much longer was a bit more real.  I have been so blessed that he and my grandma are in excellent health and I know I can't take that for granted.  Every day is a blessing.  We can't make an hour any longer than 60 minutes, but we can decide how we are going to spend those 60 minutes.  The idea of being selfless instead of selfish in my life is not an easy concept.  The quote, "It's not thinking less of yourself, but of yourself less" gives an excellent picture as to what a selfless life would look like. 

We made a list of 85 things we remember or love about my grandpa and asked my aunt and uncle to contribute.  Some of their memories were serious, like being thankful for his selflessness, but most were really funny.  Both my aunt and uncle have great senses of humor and all of their thoughts and memories had smiley faces and exclamation marks.  Lots and lots of them.  My favorite was my aunt's memory of Grandpa sitting on a milkshake in his truck.  I wish I had been there. 

Mom also thought we should do a birthday hat.  I wanted to do one that had a bag of confetti that popped and went everywhere when he put the hat on, but Mom vetoed that idea.  Instead we found a glittery, jingly jester.  Not quite as good as the confetti hat (which I wouldn't have had the creativity or time to make) but it was fun.  We also got balloons!  I can't remember the last time we had balloons with helium!  When we were heading into the restaurant, Mom thought one of them had blown away when really it had just gotten stuck in the top of the Sprinter.  Goes to show you how high the Sprinter's ceiling is.  Grandpa had two balloons (instead of four) tied to his chair . . . its the thought that counts, right?

We read the page of 85 things at the restaurant and had a great time rehashing memories.  Since I have been in the picture for a much shorter time (computer cards . . . what are those?) it was neat getting to hear my dad and aunt and uncle relive the things they loved about Grandpa.  I hope to have the legacy that my grandpa has among his friends and family.  A selfless life is one well lived.