It’s been almost two and a half years since I celebrated my 40th birthday with a Random Acts of Kindness extravaganza. Friends, family and even strangers joined in to help me celebrate with Random Acts of Kindness of their own. It was by the far the best and most meaningful birthday I’ve had. After my birthday, I was contacted by a writer for the Tri-City Herald in Washington who was interested in sharing my story with her readers. I recently reflected on how touching it was that she had written the article. The next day I found an email from the author, Lucy Luginbill, in my inbox. Lucy is now writing her Light Notes column weekly for their Saturday edition in addition to the online paper. Lucy wanted to republish the article and share the story again with their readers. Her email had more of an impact on me than she could have imagined. I have recently been contemplating what to do with my blog – whether I should devote more time to it and sharing my Random Acts of Kindness or devote the little bit of free time I have to promoting my future bakery.
Lucy’s email was a clear sign pointing me in the right direction. Of course I said yes to Lucy. I am thrilled to have the article run again. But I said yes to more than that article when I sent my reply. I said yes to many more Random Acts of Kindness. I said yes to sharing the stories. I said yes to trying my best to inspire others to do acts of kindness. The article ran yesterday in the Tri-City Herald and is posted online here. Much thanks to Lucy for feeling compelled to share the story of my birthday celebration (twice now). But I also want to thank her for reminding me to follow my heart by continuing this journey.
Giving away the smiley-face sugar cookies was one of our favorite Random Acts of Kindness from my 40th birthday. (You can read more about all of the RAOKs here.) Here is the recipe I use if you’d like to make your own cookies…
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 3 cups (360 grams) flour
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl. Add egg and vanilla and mix. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. Do not over mix. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutter. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Do not refrigerate dough.
For royal icing: mix 2 egg whites, 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, and 3 cups powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. Add water 1/4 teaspoon at a time until icing is the desired consistency. Use decorator bag to outline cookie with icing. After outline dries, flood cookie with royal icing and let dry overnight.
Enjoy!
-K
Kristi's Chaos 
Nice that you were recognized again for your efforts. In the past several days since scheduling my RAOK blog I’ve been witnessing several acts – one about an hour ago where a car waited for the one in front to pull out – and pulled up so I could also fill my tank vs. waiting or trying to get around to the other side!
Question: Same recipe for the Heart cookies and icing? (Do you use lemon in the pink too? And if you outline it – and wait until it’s dried, won’t there be a line/bump??
Thanks for adding the recipe.
I use the lemon regardless of the color. I use Spectrum gel icing colors to get the colors I want. Cake decorating stores carry it. You can also use Wilton colors from Micheal’s or other craft stores, but be careful with their red or black. It’s really hard to get them vibrant without adding so much coloring that it makes the icing taste bitter. I use a small line to outline the cookies so it’s not very noticeable. You can also keep the icing a bit thicker so that you don’t have to have the outline to contain it on the cookie. I’d recommend playing with the consistency to get a feel for what works best for you.
Thanks this is VERY helpful, especially the gel – I’ve never made royal icing – I’ve been afraid, but feel a little more confident!