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Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies

These fabulously, (semi-) famously, super-soft cookies have been a favorite for all my family and friends and friends of family, and friends of friends since 1980!

The recipe came from my paternal grandmother. My mother "adopted" the recipe as her own two years after I was born....it has been a huge secret ever since. My mom has kept in under lock and key (almost literally) for over 25 years! Last Christmas, she decided I was responsible enough to learn the recipe, to be a woman in the family. I was nervous to try it out for the first time. I wanted to impress my boyfriend's very honest :), Italian family...especially his grandmother. After a few tries, the perfect cut-out cookie appeared in my hands! They tasted like mom's. The looked like mom's. They had the same texture as mom's! They were a sure-fire hit!...In the end, I got an "A+" from his grandma and a new-found confidence in the kitchen!

The secret family cookie recipe is as follows:
2c. sugar
2 eggs
1c. margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1c. sour cream (the secret ingredient)
2 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. baking soda
1tsp. salt
4 1/2c. flour

Beat sugar, eggs & margarine 'till fluffy. Add vanilla. Alternate dry ingredients with sour cream. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Bake 10 mins. at 325 degrees on greased cookie sheet.