Cat in the Hat Sugar Cookies with Buttercream

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a bowl (either with a whisk, hand mixer, or stand), cream together shortening and butter. Add in sugar, egg, vanilla extract and milk.

Add in baking powder and mix thoroughly; repeat with the salt.

Next, add in the flour and mix with a rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.

For better results I’d refrigerate the dough at this point for about an hour so they spread less. I didn’t, so my hats came out a little deformed, but they’re cute and rustic.

If you want to do Seuss cookies and don’t have a top hat cutter, you can either form by hand by rolling a 1″ thick ball and then flattening it out to form a chimney shape and then forming the brim. Or take a stocking cookie cutter and just shape it from there.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10–12 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden.

Let sit on the sheet for about 2 minutes and remove them to a cooling rack.

For the icing:

In a bowl, cream together shortening and softened butter. Add in the vanilla extract, then add the powdered sugar and milk.

If the mixture is too runny, add in more powdered sugar; if it’s too thick, just add a bit more milk!

I misplaced my tablespoon measure so my milk may not be exact, but it also really just depends. Sometimes you will need a lot and sometimes you won’t. I don’t always measure as I cook— it’s more a case of look and taste.

Let cookies cool thoroughly. Frost your hats with the plain white buttercream first, being sure to reserve some for the red stripes.

After all cookies are frosted white, add in the red food dye until you reach the desired shade of red (this may take a few drops, I never seem to be able to get a deep red with just a few).

Draw stripes with either a piping bag or just a butter knife across the top, middle, and brim of the hat.

Serve and enjoy!

Note: This would also be adorable as Green Eggs & Ham as well. Just shape a round cookie for the egg and an oblongish blob for the ham. Frost the circles white then tint the icing a kelly green color and add a big glob on the “egg” for the green yolk, and frost the “ham” shape green and pipe on melted chocolate for the details of the ham such as the bone.