Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sugar Cookie Recipe

  Today, I want to share with you the what I think is the best sugar cookie recipe ever!! I have made a lot of sugar cookies and I have tried a lot of different sugar cookie recipes and beside my mom's recipe, none compare to these. My mom's version of sugar cookie are delicious, soft, fluffy and they're not too sweet. Kind of more little a sugar cookie meets tea biscuit. Like usual she doesn't have a recipe written down but one day I will write it down and share it with you all.  For a non-sweet sugar cookies her's are the best but because they are so light and fluffy, they don't work will for decorating
My mom's sugar Cookies, so light and fluffy.
They melt in your mouth!

So what's the best sugar cookie recipe you ask?  Alton Brown, Food Network,  has the best sugar cookie recipe ever, you can find it here. I did adapt it to my own liking but for the most part it's the same and it's is the BEST!!! They're soft, delicious, buttery, easy to make, keep there shape and yes, they have baking powder in them. Like I said I have tried many sugar cookie recipes; one's with extra butter, little to no flour, no baking powder, berry sugar, icing sugar, etc....They all weren't great :(  They tasted bland, took to long, or require too many ingredient I didn't have. These are so simple to make, his recipe calls for chill time but I made some alteration and skip that part altogether. I make and bake them! 

Decorated and ready for someone special <3


~Purple Power~
  
  I actually tried a new sugar cookie recipe recently, but I wish I hadn't because I ended not being able to use them in the end. The recipe required a lot of butter, almost no baking powder, actual I think it said to leave out totally. It also require a lot of chilling time (2+hours). The recipe called for vanilla bean but I didn't have any so I just used vanilla and I'm so glad I did because they were weren't great, unfortunately I would say in my opinion, they were the worst sugar cookies I ever made!! I would have been very upset if I had used expensive vanilla bean on this recipe. They were definitely buttery but to the point of overkill, even after chilling for the required time the cookies spread and the overall taste was bad. I had a few people sample them just to make sure I wasn't biased and they agreed. Two Thumb Down!!!

  That's when I said no more testing!!! I'm sticking with what I know. And I decided that they are too good not to share with you all.  Once you try this recipe, (gently adapted from Alton Brown's Sugar Cookiesyou'll be tossing out the old ones. I did!!! 
Smiley Face

~Sugar Cookie~ 
                                             
     Ingredients: 
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2-3  teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 


In the bowl of mixer or in a large bowl place sugar, then butter. Beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and continue beating till well combined. I scrape down  the sides to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Beat till light and fluffy.

Add flour mixture, set mixer on low when you first add flour, then increase speed. Beat until mixture pulls away from sides of the bowl and form cookie chunks. Don't worry about over beating, make sure ingredients are well combined. Gather the cookie dough into a ball, set aside. Chill dough 1 hour if desired.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Prepare your work surface. Sprinkle work surface with a light dusting of flour or icing sugar.(see tip here) Roll out dough to 1/4 thickness. Cut into desired shapes, place at least 1-inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown around the edges. Rotate cookies sheet halfway through baking. 

Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack. Eat, decorate, or store in airtight container for 1 week, in fridge for 2 week and I have kept them in freezer for up to 1 month.  
Smiley Face


 Like I mentioned earlier this recipe calls for baking powder. It makes these sugar cookies light and airy but it is important to make sure your baking powder is fresh always. You can do a simple test to see if your baking powder is still active.



Baking Powder Freshness Test:



You need: 
Baking Powder
Small dish of cold water 





Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of
baking powder on the water.
It should start fizzing
right away.




It will continue fizzing till
all the baking powder
is dissolve. If your baking powder fizzes it's fresh and ready to use. 











Step by Step: Sugar Cookie Instructions:




Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter
Egg
Pure Vanilla
All-Purpose Flour
Baking Powder
Salt









Combine sugar and unsalted butter in mixer bowl.
I always add the sugar first so the butter doesn't stick to the bottom.








Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.






Add the egg and vanilla. Continue beating.













Beat until mixture is light and thoroughly combine. Stop and scrape down sides if needed. 













Add the flour mixture. Start mixer on low, then turn up speed.  *Important step otherwise you and your kitchen will be covered in flour dust.*







Beat until all flour is incorporated and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough might seem crumbly, don't worry. 










Remove from mixer stand and gather the dough 
with your hands, lightly knead it
and bring the cookie dough into a ball.  

The best sugar cookie dough!! Ready to roll out and bake! 


Time to pull out the cookie cutter. Get the kids involved, they'll love it, and start making sugar cookies in all sizes and shapes. You can try this recipe if you want or use your favorite one. Just have a good time, that's all that counts! Happy Baking.



Thanks for stopping by. Have a sweet day. 

Smiley Face


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty Kathy.....these sugar cookies are the best , I 💜💚❤💙💛❤💜💗💚💛💗💙❤💛💗💙💜💚
Them!!!
Love Pips....🐶

Katya said...

Hey Pips, I bet you enjoy them:) Oh ya I totally knew you meant 'taste' in the other comment...heehee. Love K <3