Holiday Guide 2018

white chocolate, use dark chocolate in recipes. "Dark chocolate is lower in sugar content and contains important an oxidants that are good for your heart," Blatner says. Another smart swap is to switch out some or all of your recipe's white all-purpose flour for whole-wheat alterna ves. This pumps up the fiber content of your recipes. "Whole-wheat flour is a good op on to keep on hand in the pantry," says Blatner. "For cookies with a more delicate texture, consider using a finely milled whole-wheat pastry flour." Find recipes with low prep me or prep-ahead quali es Holiday baking is a fun tradi on whether you do it solo or plan a cookie day with the kids. To save me and reduce stress, look for simpler recipes or ones that offer you the ability to do steps ahead of me. With this Eggland's Best recipe for classic cut-out sugar cookies, you can make the dough the day before so you're ready to dive into the fun the day of, baking and decora ng the cookies. Ingredients: Cookies: 3/4 cup butter (soened) 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs (large) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup sour cream 6 cups white flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Frosting: 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar pinch of salt 1/3 cup liquid egg whites 1 teaspoon vanilla small squeeze of lemon juice Directions: Cookies: In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Add in the eggs, vanilla and sour cream and mix until combined. Add the baking powder, salt and flour (one cup at a time), mixing until everything is evenly incorporated. Cover and chill the dough, preferably overnight for best results. Preheat the oven to 350 F. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to a 1/4 or 1/2 in. thickness. Cut into holiday shapes with a cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and move cookies to a rack to cool. Frosting: In a large mixing bowl cream the butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, and mix until combined. Add the salt, egg whites, vanilla and lemon juice and beat until ingredients are incorporated. Spread over cooled cookies, sprinkle with colored sugar and serve immediately. Holiday Sugar Cookies

• Cover