This recipe comes from our friend, Lori.

They are extremely versatile, and lend themselves to a myriad of different fillings, shapes, and ideas!

The basic:

• 3 1/2 cups unsifted flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients.  Beat sweetened condensed milk, butter, eggs and vanilla until well blended.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Chill 2 hours.

On floured surface, divide dough into thirds.  Roll each portion to 1/8″ thickness. Cut with favorite cookie cutters.  Place on parchment-lined (or greased) cookie sheets, about 1″ apart.  Bake at 350° for 7-9 minutes.

Now for the fun stuff…

You can add different flavorings in place of the vanilla… lemon, peppermint, almond, amaretto – you name it!

Make Chocolate cookies by adding 1/2 cup cocoa powder, and decreasing flour by 1/2 cup. (Try these with peppermint flavoring!)

Stained glass cookies:  Cut holes with tiny cookie cutters or knife, and fill holes with crushed hard candy.  This you need to do on a DRY day or the candy gets sticky and hard to use. Bake 6-8 minutes or until candy has melted.

Filled cookies: Use round cookie cutters, place one cookie on baking sheet, top with your favorite filling or jam, and place a second cookie on top with a small hole cut out.  Bake about 8-10 minutes.