The Best Sugar Cookies Ever

My Sugar Cookies are 100% The Best Sugar Cookies Ever, Old Fashioned Goodness. They don’t call them The Best Sugar Cookies Ever without reason. The ingredients are simple ingredients most of you have in your pantry now.

You only need flour, sugar, unsalted real butter, vanilla, baking powder, and salt.  Add some Cream Cheese, Frosting, and sprinkles… How simple is this list?  You are ready to start making the” Best Sugar Cookies Ever.”

What makes my Sugar Cookies The Best, you ask? It’s all about the ingredients and how you handle them when baking.  Let’s talk about some of the ingredients I will be using today to make these fantastic Sugar Cookies so that you will understand their importance in the cookie dough scheme.

Multi-purpose flour is also called “Plain Flour” It is a mix of soft and hard wheat that professional bakers often use for dense, sturdy baked goods or loaf cakes such as pound cake because it produces a more coarse crumb texture.  That, of course, makes it perfect for cookies.

 

Fresh eggs at room temperature are important when making your cookie dough or even baking period.  What is the method of madness behind this tidbit?  The egg yolks and whites will combine easier and distribute more evenly into your cookie batter. If you don’t have time to wait, you can make them room temperature by placing them in warm water for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Real Unsalted  Butter that has been softened mixes into the dry ingredients better and makes cookies more chewy and moist tasting. Who doesn’t love moist, chewy cookies? Is that even a question on anyone’s mind?

 

When making a Great Sugar Cookie, Vanilla Bean Extract is very important. Why do you ask?  Real vanilla is made straight from the vanilla bean. Its flavor is richer, more complex, and has more depth. I have to tell you it’s worth the extra 1-2 dollars every time.

Baking Powder will give these tasty cookies a slight rise. When using baking powder, be sure you aren’t using last year’s baking powder. While it will last in a cool dry place for a long time, it’s best used when fresh.

Coarse salt is a must… Salty and sweet flavors always go well together. We use coarse Kosher Salt. I think we all know by now, I use Kosher salt for almost everything. “ Hello, I’m Heidy McCallum, a Kosher Salt Addict.”

 

 

Labor Day is just around the corner now… I want to get in the last of the bright multi-color recipes while getting warmed up for “Pumpkin Everything” and Fall Baking.  Here in Haines City, Florida, we won’t be phased by cool weather until almost November when we get our first cool-down… We will only drop to the 60s on most nights until we hit December.

This recipe is the perfect way to start getting warmed up, being it’s Sugar Cookies, and you can pretty much design them any color you like by tinting the frosting with a bit of food coloring or gel. The sprinkles can be any shape or color you desire as well. I chose to keep my icing simple and a clean white to bring out the fun-looking star sprinkles.  Below you will be my Best Sugar Cookies Ever Recipe that will come in handy all year!

 

 

Best Sugar Cookies Ever Recipe

• One and 3/4 sticks of Real unsalted butter.softened

• Two ounces of cream cheese.softened

• One tablespoon of Vanilla Bean Extract

• Two large eggs, room temperature

• One egg yolk, room temperature

• One and 1/4 cups of granulated sugar

• Three cups of multi-purpose flour

• One and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

• One teaspoon of kosher salt

• Cream Cheese frosting, your brand

• edible candy sprinkles

 

Important notes and tips for The Best Sugar Cookies Ever

There are a few things that will need to be mentioned or may be noteworthy that I would like to mention before we get started making the Best Ever Sugar Cookies today.

Sometimes a Heavy-duty stand mixer is not in the budget, running approximately $199.99 and up in most stores. What can you do? Do you have a food processor? If you answered yes, perfect! They work excellently, believe it or not. Trust me, in my early 20s, I did not own many small kitchen appliances, so I learned to adapt and overcome little obstacles. In the worst-case scenario, you can also use any hand mixer.

Chilling the cookie batter is important, so you can make the batter ahead of time and place it in your refrigerator until ready to use. Why is chilling the cookie batter important? Letting the Sugar Cookie dough chill in the refrigerator makes it easier to handle and brings out the butter flavor since the ingredients have had time to hang out and meld those wonderful flavors together. How long should you chill them?  I have learned from experience that 3 hours or more in a refrigerator brings up the flavor level of any cookie. 

Can I freeze the batter to use later? All you need to do is roll dough into a ball or even a log if desired, wrap it extra tightly with plastic wrap, and store it in a well-sealed ziplock freezer bag until ready.

What if I don’t own cookie cutters?  No worries, there are three ways to bypass the whole cookie-cutter issue. Dip a narrow glass in flour. After rolling out the Sugar Cookie Dough Wa-la, you have a round cookie cutter. Don’t want to be troubled with rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters? Roll batter into a log, chill and slice evenly. Roll the chilled batter into evenly measured balls and place them on a baking sheet.

Cookie sheets: The best cookie sheets are Heavy-duty insulated ones …They tend to bake evenly and not cause burnt bottoms…if you can invest in at least one (You can always make a few rounds of cookies in your oven)

All ovens vary, so keep an eye on your cookies better to be on the safe side.

 

 

Directions for The Best Sugar Cookies Ever

1. Preheat oven to 325

2. In a Heavy-duty Stand Mixer, Food Processor, or glass bowl, combine sugar, butter, and cream cheese; beat until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

3. Add all dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture until completely blended.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a 1/4-inch. thickness. Cut with holiday cutters dipped in flour. Using a floured spatula, transfer cookies to ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 13 minutes. Cool on wire racks. (Also see notes for other methods)

5. Frost cookies with Cream Cheese icing and add candy sprinkles.

6. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

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