Sugar Cookies

Marilyn's Sugar Cookies

Made with cream of tartar, these cookies have a bit of a "tang" so this isn't my personal favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.

Before Christmas and Easter, my mother tied on her grandmother's handmade apron and made these sugar cookies.Her children and later her grandchildren liked choosing which of the old metal cookie cutters to use to cut the shapes from rolled dough. Mom's favourite was the sturdy bell, I liked the Christmas Angel the most.

She helped the little ones roll the dough with her heavy wooden rolling pin.

Even the youngest could help, dipping their fingers into the tinted sugar and sprinkling sugar on the rolled-out cookies.

This recipe requires 1/2 hour - 4 hours "chill time" so while the dough is in the fridge, do the dishes together, read holiday stories, play outside in the snow, walk the dog, or take a nap.

• 1 cup softened butter (left to sit out until room temperature)
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt (1/2 tsp)
• Topping: blend 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in a blender with a few drops of red or green food colouring till the colour is evenly distributed. If you want two colours of cookies, blend 1/8 of a cup sugar with green and 1/8 of a cup sugar with red. If you do not have a blender, stir to tint the sugar with food colouring in a small bowl, using the flat bottom of the spoon.

1. Use electric mixer to cream the butter and vanilla.
2. Add the sugar to the butter mixture gradually. Cream till light and fluffy.
3. Add the 3 beaten eggs one at a time.
4. Sift the flour with the cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
5. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture gradually, by spoonful. Mix.
6. Divide the cookie dough into 4 pieces and flatten each like a big pancake.
7. Wrap each "cookie dough pancake" well in wax paper or plastic wrap.
8. Chill half an hour in the fridge.
9. Undivided dough will have to be chilled 3-4 hours.
10. 
    
11. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
12. Use a lightly floured rolling pin.
13. Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface or parchment paper till about 1/8th inch thick.
14. Nama makes her cookies quite thin and crispy at the edges.
15. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters.
16. Lift onto your ungreased cookie sheets with a spatula.
17. Gather up the dough scraps into a ball and roll out again.
18. Repeat till you have rolled and cut out all the dough.
19. Sprinkle with colored sugar. (See instructions in recipe #2 below)
20. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 6-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of your cookies.

Gail's Sugar Cookie Recipe #1

A sugar cookie without cream of tartar. It requires a two hour chill time.

• 1 cup unsalted, softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp. real vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• Sugar topping: blend 1/4 cup granulated sugar in the blender with a few drops of red or green food coloring, but if you don't have a blender, just stir in a small bowl until the color is evenly distributed.
• Alternate iced topping: blend 1 cup icing sugar with 2 Tbsp milk till smooth, add drops of red or green food coloring if you like. Add candy sprinkles if desired.

1. In mixer, cream softened butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. In a small, separate bowl, beat eggs, add vanilla.
3. Pour egg mixture gradually into the butter mixture and mix.
4. In another bowl, sift flour with salt and baking soda, mix.
5. Add flour mixture by the spoonful,  into the butter/egg mixture. Mix.
6. Form the cookie dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap.
7. Chill in fridge, 2 hours.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
9. Use a lightly floured rolling pin.
10. Roll cookie dough on a lightly floured surface or parchment paper till about 1/8 inch thick.
11. Cut into shapes with cutters.
12. Lift onto greased baking sheets with a spatula.
13. Form left-over dough into a ball and roll and cut again till all the cookie dough is used up.
14. If you are icing your cookies later, bake them plain.
15. If you are not icing them, sprinkle the cookie cut-outs on the pans with colored sugar.
16. Bake 5-8 minutes (depending on the thickness of your rolled cookies) till lightly browned at edges. Cool on wire rack
17. If you baked your cookies plain, spread icing on your cooled cookies and sprinkle with candy sprinkles.

Make-Ahead Ultimate Sugar Cookie, Roll and Spritz Recipe 

Makes 2-3 dozen, depending on size of cookie.

I clipped this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine in 2013 and used it exclusively for our 2017 Christmas cookies.  It's a great recipe! The cookies are crisp but tender, keep their shape when baked, and taste so good. We ate all the cookies by Christmas Eve, so mix up two batches of dough.

The dough rolls easily for cookie cutter shapes, but you can also form a roll out of the dough, refrigerate, and slice cookies to bake. You can also load this dough into a cookie press for spritzes.

You can sprinkle on tinted sugar before baking or plain baked cookies can be decorated with royal icing after they've cooled.

The dough can be mixed 1 month ahead: freeze instead of chilling.

If you make dough a few days ahead of baking and chill in the fridge, let it sit out for a few minutes so it's easier to roll out. 

Cookies can be baked 2 weeks ahead, wrap undecorated cookies with plastic wrap and freeze in an airtight container. Don't tell anyone they're in the freezer.

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt OR 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1. Place oven racks in lower and upper thirds of oven; preheat to 325 degrees F.
2. Whisk salt, baking powder and 3 cups flour in a small bowl.
3. Using electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until well-combined, creamy and lighter in colour (4 minutes minimum with a hand mixer.)
4. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla; beat just to combine.
5. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients, mix just to combine.
6. Form dough into two 3/4 inch thick rounds.
7. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 2 hours.
8. Let 1 round of dough sit at room temperature until softened slightly, about 5 minutes.
9. Roll out on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper until about 1/4" thick, lightly dusting with flour as needed. 
10. Cut out shapes with floured cookie cutters. Cut shapes as close together as possible to minimize waste. Reroll the scraps. If dough gets soft or sticky, chill on parchment until firm.
11. Transfer cut-out shapes to parchment-lined baking sheets with a spatula.
12. Sugar cookies don't spread much while baking, so leave only an inch between them.
13. Bake cookie in preheated 325 degree oven, rotating baking sheets from front to back halfway through.
14. Bake until edges are golden, 12-16 minutes, depending on size.
15. Transfer to wire racks and let cool. 
16. Repeat with scraps and remaining dough.
17. Decorate cooled cookies as desired.

Royal Icing for Decorating Cookies

• 3-1/4 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 2 large egg whites OR 5 Tbsp meringue powder mixed with 1/3 cup water
• water

1. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat sugar and egg whites OR meringue powder mixture until white, thickened, and tripled in volume (about 5 minutes).
2. Add water by the tablespoonful until icing no longer holds a peak.
3. Divide icing into smaller bowls and add food colouring drop by drop, as desired.
4. Makes about 2 cups.