The Best Christmas Cookies Ever (+ Homemade Frosting)

The Best Christmas Cookies Ever (+ Homemade Frosting)

If you follow me on social media or have been keeping up with Vlogmas, then you know about these cookies. As soon as I posted the first photo on Instagram I got countless people requesting the recipe! The recipe currently belongs to my mom (of course I copied it as soon as I started living on my own) and I asked her for a little backstory! She first discovered these “Knoertzer Sugar Cookies” from a family friend back in her school days. She fell in love and had to have the recipe and now you guys can enjoy it too!
Now one batch of these cookies doesn’t make very much, so definitely double or triple the recipe if you’re making them for more than just a couple people. Plus they’re so delicious you’re going to want plenty. Now the recipe I have is literally just ingredients since I’ve made it so many times, so I’ll do my best to act like a professional food blogger and give you all the deets.

Knoertzer Sugar Cookies

Ingredients for Cookies
1/2 cup butter one stick and let it soften
2 eggs
1 tbs milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract this is SUPER important. Seriously. It makes the cookie

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Ingredients for Frosting A very word of mouth recipe and isn’t an exact process…sorry!
16 ounces of powdered sugar extra to thicken up the frosting.
Half a stick of butter softened for easy use
2 tbs of milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
Food coloring
Directions
  • Add all the wet ingredients together and then add in the dry ingredients. Keep adding flour little by little until the dough is just slightly sticky.
  • Chill the dough.
  • Preheat oven at 350
  • Roll out the dough and use floured cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Place on parchment covered baking sheet a couple inches apart.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes until well risen and middle parts of cookies aren’t soft
  • Let cool completely before frosting
  • Add frosting ingredients together and keep adding in powdered sugar until the frosting is thick and no longer runny. Keeping the frosting thick means it’ll dry faster on the cookie and won’t run off
  • Put frosting in separate bowls and add food coloring
  • Try not to eat too many!
Let me know if you’re having any issues as this recipe definitely isn’t one with exact details or baking instructions!
xoxo Kayla
Doing Your Own Thing

Doing Your Own Thing

So I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. This idea of “doing your own thing.” With a world that’s constantly connected it’s so easy to get swept up in the flurry of trying to keep up with the Joneses. Everyone and their brother is opening an Etsy shop selling stickers these days. I was definitely not the first and I’m sure dozens are still to follow. Is that a bad thing? I’m not sure. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t worrisome as we try to make a living off of an ever saturated market. We take a risk every day and whatever consequences that come with it are ours to bear. But beyond the economical implications I keep wondering if I’m just one of the herd and how to do my own thing and stay true to myself when everyone else has the same idea.
I know I’m just rambling really, but is it even possible to do your own thing anymore? What does that even mean? If an idea is a good one, does it become less as more and more people adopt it and put their own spin on it? It’s a good thing I wasn’t a philosophy major or I’d be in a world of trouble.
I guess what I’m trying to say is in a world were everything is so intertwined, it’s hard to do your own thing. It’s hard to feel unique and special and that your idea, or whatever it is that you’re doing, has merit and matters. Regardless of what you’re doing or how many other people are doing the same thing, constantly work towards doing your own thing. Every morning I wake up thinking about how I can just be myself and do what I love to do in the way I love to do it. It’s important to me. I base my self worth off of it (regardless of whether or not I should). 
I don’t know if there’s an answer or an explanation to ease my mind. The only thing I can do it try every day to remain honest, humble, and myself. Maybe that’s how we can all do our own thing. By working every day to just be ourselves, no matter what that means.
xoxo Kayla

Remember Why You Started

Remember Why You Started

Time is a funny, funny thing. It has a way of mucking about with goals and plans and suddenly you find yourself a few years down the road with your mind all over the place and no real direction. I’ve been feeling like that a lot lately. This kind of lost sense of going through the motions. Specifically with this blog and my YouTube channel.
I’ve been blogging and making videos for so long that I’ve lost sight of why I started. It’s easy to do and it’s no one’s fault really. But through this loss of sight I realized others might be going through the same thing. So I thought I’d write about it.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the politics and the rat race. Trying to get followers, trying to write engaging posts that catch attention and gets views, to make catchy titles to attract people in. The list goes on and on and suddenly you’re where I’m at, trying to go back to the beginning. I never thought I’d be wildly successful on the internet. Sure, like anyone I hoped it would happen (people are lying if they say they’ve never thought about it). But after the first four years of YouTube and a year of the blog it really wasn’t about getting popular anymore because I honestly wasn’t. Which I’m really quite thankful now that my online presence is starting to get traction.
It’s because of those literally years of no feedback that I remained humble and honest to why I really started blogging and making videos. And more importantly why I kept making them and despite little to no response. I found myself blogging and making videos because I enjoyed it and I wanted to do it for myself. Ironically that’s when things started (slowly) happening. It’s because I remembered why I started, and why I kept going, that I found happiness in what I was doing. I think people can sense that. People can see from behind their computers that what you’re making is honestly just because you like doing it. That’s when the magic really happens.
So remember why you started doing whatever it is that you’ve lost sight of. It’ll likely boil down to passion. You enjoy doing it. And if you don’t, then stop doing it. It’s that simple really.
xoxo Kayla
5 Things to Do For Yourself: This Holiday Season

5 Things to Do For Yourself: This Holiday Season

The holiday season is definitely here in full force and it’s more important than ever to do things for yourself to maintain your sanity as the to do lists reach new lengths. I for one always get swept up in the fury and frantic dash and could use the reminder to take time to do these 5 things for myself.
  1. Remember what the holiday season is about and focus on that more than anything else. It’s so easy to worry about getting the perfect gift, but the holidays are about spending time with people you love. It’s so easy to forget that.
  2. Take a bubble bath and drink a festive beverage in the process. Taking care of your mental health is always important!
  3. Participate (or create) in a holiday tradition that means a lot to you. Nothing lifts me out of the craziness of the holidays like building a gingerbread house with Alex. It’s a little thing we’ve done for a few years now that really brightens my spirits. Enjoy something that’s special to your family.
  4. Be honest about how much your spending and hold yourself responsible to it. It’ll save you a lot of heartache in January. It’s so easy to get swept up and buy that extra gift that wasn’t really necessary. Create a list and stick to it. You’ll be happier in the long run and spending extra money won’t make or break the holiday season, but it’ll make 2016 a whole lot harder starting out.
  5. Live a little and eat that cookie or extra helping of stuffing. What’s the hard work for if it isn’t for little luxuries like pie?
Do these few things for yourself and we’ll all make it through the holiday season relatively undamaged.
xoxo Kayla