Baby Shower Sugar Cookies

First week of January. The kids went back to school Monday. The household resumed its rhythm. Lisa was back on shifts. Diego was back at the school for spring training prep. Sofia was back at workouts. The twins were back at middle school. I was back at the office, doing the offseason work — film, recruiting, weight room planning, schedule construction.

Saturday I made buñuelos. Buñuelos are New Mexican fritters — round, crisp, dusted with cinnamon sugar. Mamá used to make them at New Year's when I was a kid. I have been making them once or twice a year since, mostly at New Year's and sometimes for breakfast on Christmas morning. They are not easy — the dough has to be exactly right, the oil has to be exactly right, the timing of the fry has to be exactly right — but when they work they are one of the best foods I make. Crisp, slightly sweet, the cinnamon sugar dissolving on the tongue.

I made a big batch Saturday morning — about forty of them — and I sent half of them with a kid from the team named Ricardo who lives a block away and whose mother had been kind to me earlier in the year. Ricardo came by to pick them up at noon. He said, "Coach, my mom is going to lose her mind." I said, "Tell her happy New Year." He took the bag and walked home. The other half of the buñuelos got eaten by the family for breakfast Sunday. The twins each had four. Diego had five. Sofia had three. Lisa had two. I had three. There were no buñuelos left. The bag was empty by ten in the morning.

Sunday afternoon Lisa and I sat on the patio for a long talk. Two hours. The longest conversation we had had in months. We talked about her dad. We talked about my dad. We talked about Diego leaving for college in eight months. We talked about Sofia's college plans, which are starting to firm up. We talked about the twins. We talked about the next phase of our marriage, which is the phase where the kids start to leave, and which is the phase that all couples enter and that not all couples survive. We are going to survive. The conversation was not about whether we were going to survive. It was about how. About what shape we wanted the next ten years to take. About the questions that needed to be asked and answered before we could move forward.

The questions: Where do we live? When do we move to Las Cruces? Do we sell the Denver house? Do we keep both? When do we retire? When do you start to slow down? When do I start to slow down? Lisa's back is bothering her. My knees are bothering me. We are at the start of the long descent from peak earning years into the older phase of our careers. We have to plan it.

We did not solve any of it Sunday. We barely scratched it. But we agreed to start having the conversation. We agreed that we would set aside one Sunday a month for what Lisa called "the future Sunday" — a long talk about the next ten years. The first one was Sunday. The second one will be in February. We will keep going. The road bends. Feed your people. The game is won at the table. The conversation about the future is the meal you eat slowly, in installments, over months. We started the meal. The meal will go on for years. That is okay. That is the marriage.

Buñuelos are the ones I’ll always make at New Year’s — that’s Mamá’s recipe, and I’m not changing it. But the spirit behind that Saturday morning batch, the part where you make more than your family needs because there’s someone a block away who deserves something good — that spirit lives in any recipe you make in volume with other people in mind. These sugar cookies carry that same intention: a big batch, a generous hand, the understanding that the best food is always made to be divided.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 35 min (plus 1 hr chill) | Servings: 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons sour cream
Colored sanding sugar or sprinkles, for decorating
Royal icing or buttercream frosting (optional, for decorating)

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, and sour cream until fully combined and smooth.
Combine and chill. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in half, flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven. When ready to bake, heat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll and cut. On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart.
Decorate before baking (optional). Sprinkle with colored sanding sugar or sprinkles before baking if you prefer a simple finish without frosting.
Bake. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are just barely golden. Do not overbake — the centers should look slightly underdone when you pull them out. They will set as they cool.
Cool completely. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting or packaging.
Frost and share. If using frosting, decorate cooled cookies as desired. Package into bags or tins to share with neighbors, team families, or anyone who deserves something good.

Nutrition (per serving)

Baby Shower Sugar Cookies — The Batch You Make to Give Away