We made some sugar cookies last night. It is very easy and a lot of fun.
Here’s the basic dough, adapted from HTCE:
- 3 cups (14 oz) AP flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened slightly in microwave
- 1 cup sugar (white & brown in any combination)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Find some nice cookie cutters.
- Mix flour, baking powder, and any dry add-ins in one bowl
- Cream butter and sugar in standing mixer on low speed until fully incorporated. Add egg, then add dry ingredients slowly, adding a little milk if the mixture gets too dry.
- Add vanilla and incorporate.
- Refrigerate a couple hours, to harden the dough.
- Remove 20 minutes before rolling out. Preheat to 400°F. Roll out to 1/8 inch between two sheets of floured parchment paper. Then cut your shapes! You can also roll the dough into a log and slice it into rounds.
- Bake 7-10 minutes on parchment papered cookie sheets, then cookies to a cooling rack for a few minutes.
Of course, we couldn’t settle with just the basic recipe. We also made a chocolate-orange variant and a ginger variant.
Chocolate-Orange cookies: Add 1 TBsp orange zest and a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, omit the vanilla, and add 3 oz melted baking chocolate with the egg (you can melt the chocolate in the microwave on high—stirring every 15 seconds or so).
Ginger cookies: Add 1 TBsp, or more, of ginger powder to the dry ingredients, along with some cinnamon and nutmeg (just a pinch) as desired. Cardamom would be great, too, if you want to go Middle Eastern with it.