From letters to sounds to words, Carter is making the literacy journey. He aced letters and sounds, started reading words well over a year ago, and can sound out new words. But he’s a bit spooked about reading. No fear of baking, though, so our culinary take: alphabet cookies. We used Alton Brown’s trusty sugar cookie recipe, teamed up with Carter’s neighbor friend Sonia, and got rolling. As you can see, I kid not about Carter’s love of red sprinkles.

One note: If you buy alphabet cookie cutters, be sure to check the size. Miniature letters will spell “frustration” with kids. The letter cookie cutters we used are 2 inches high. They came as part of  The Alphabake: A Cookbook and Cookie Cutter Set. The set comes with 26 ABC cookie cutters, a square baking sheet, and a wipe-off, 32-page cookbook. Author Debra Pearson has some fun ideas, such as making a “negative” cookie with the letters of your name or a word cut out; edible Cocoa Cookie Kisses, with Xs and Os; and not-for-consumption salt play dough. You can also just buy ABC cookie cutters, which often come with numbers, too; for example, Wilton has a 50-piece ABC and 123 cookie cutter set with cookie cutters that are about 3.5 inches in size.

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