MICHAEL'S PINK FROSTED COOKIES

These yummy sugar cookies are delicious plain, but wait until you taste them with the cherry 
frosting. My son asks me to make these for his birthday treats at school. (His dad often requests 
them too when its his turn to bring treats to work.)

Cookies:
1 C. Butter
1 1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla (I prefer almond)
1 egg
2 3/4 C. flour
1 t. soda
1 t. cream of tartar
1/4 t. salt
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix. Add rest of ingredients; stir well. Chill at least 
one hour or see hint in yellow below)
Roll out dough one-eighth to one-half inch thick. Cut with your favorite cookie cutter. Bake 
at 375 degrees for six to eight minutes. Remove cookies from the oven when they are just 
barely light brown around the edges.  Allow to cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet 
before transferring to cooling rack.

Frosting:
2 C. powdered sugar
1/2 t. almond flavoring
2 t. meringue powder
Enough maraschino cherry juice to get desired consistency.
Frost cooled cookies and enjoy!

For a deeper red, color with red gel color.   It will still have its' great cherry flavor.
This is a GREAT icing to make when you need red icing.  You'll use much less gel
color and your icing will be sure to please your guests.
This is a cookie I decorated using the cherry flavored icing 
above and white royal icing with almond flavoring.  I added white sparkling sugar
 to the white side of the heart.