Love em or hate em, they’re all over pinterest.
Yes, I’m sure you have seen this little poster, or some version of it if you are on pinterest!
Who knows where these originated, but people can’t stop creating new versions.
Just check out what a search of “keep calm” will give you on pinterest!
So I HAD to include these on our series of “pinterest inspired cookies.”

These are pretty simple to create.  Just make a rectangle cookie, frost a solid color and then write!
I used my projector for this, but free hand would work too!

I don’t have a rectangular cutter because I figure I can just cut it with a knife.  Well, that is good in theory, but the problem with sugar cookies sometimes is spreading.  I find that with my recipe, the more flour I put in, the less spreading is a problem.  However, they are softer if I don’t add that extra flour.  I know there are some recipes out there without leavening ingredients in them, but I tend to prefer the taste of this recipe.  Another trick that I find works is to cut out the dough, then put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes, then put it straight into the oven to bake.  The colder the dough, the better it will hold it’s shape, and not spread.

BUT….  If I want the cookies extra soft and I don’t have time to chill the dough and I want clean straight edges, I use this trick:  As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, you can cut/trim them straight.  While they are still warm and soft, they can be cut without breaking.

The downside is that the side where you cut will be a little less clean.  But the upside, is that from the top of the cookie, it looks like a pretty sharp rectangle.

Here is the bottom edge, that was not cut after baking, if you want to compare.

It’s pretty hard to get a lot of rectangles the same size without a cutter, so I’m thinking about investing in a set.  But can you tell which one of these I did not trim after baking?  And most of the time, no one would notice the rough edge on the side.