Make the Cookie Dough:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat until mixed.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
3. Add half of the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, and stir.
4. Add the milk next, and stir until mixed.
5. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Stir well, then mix in the vanilla.
6. If the dough is very wet, you can refrigerate it for an hour or overnight. Alternatively, add more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, just until it’s dry enough to work with. You will add more flour during the rolling out process, so you want it to be kind of wet.

Roll Out & Bake the Cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Generously flour the counter or table, and a rolling pin. Take half of the dough and roll it out gently (starting in the center and rolling out to the edges) using more flour if necessary, until it is 1/8 inch thick. Dip the cookie cutters into flour (so the dough doesn’t stick to them) and cut out the dough with the cookie cutters. Removed the cookies to a greased baking pan.
3. When you can’t cut more cookies out of the dough, gather the shreds together into a ball and roll it out again. Do not overwork the dough. Repeat with all the cookie dough. Smash the final shred of cookie dough into an ugly circle cookie.
4. Bake for 8 minutes, until the edges are just barely turning gold. Do not overbake.
5. Cool for one hour before icing them.

Make the Icing & Decorate the Cookies:

1. Combine all icing ingredients in a large bowl, only using 2 tbsp of milk at first. Stir until mixture is smooth and creamy, adding the extra tablespoon of milk if necessary.
2. If coloring, divide the frosting into bowls and stir in the colors.
3. To ice the cookies, use knives or cake decorating bags. If you don’t have decorating bags, you can scoop the icing into quart-size freezer bags and snip off a very small corner of the bag. Use that for icing.
4. Store cookies, covered, at room temperature, for up to one week