Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ok... so I toiled with the idea of putting my recipe on here for a while and finally decided that I needed to. I thought "pay it forward". It's not like I came up with this recipe on my own or that it's a family secret I'm not allowed to share (which by the way it drives me CRAZY when someone says they won't share their "secret" recipe or "secret" ingredient). I don't think I'll ever be like that. Now.. I did have to tweak this because of the high altitude but it should work for you. This dough is awesome to work with and if you're like me... when you want to get something done you need to do it at exactly the time you feel like doing it. So the beauty of this recipe is that there's no waiting... you don't even have to refrigerate it AND it doesn't get all sticky to you or your countertop! Perfect! This recipe is DOUBLED so if you don't need to make this many cookies then 1/2 everything!!!! This recipe will make 4-5 dozen cookies depending on size.

4 sticks softened butter

3 cups powdered sugar

2 eggs

6 tsp flavoring (I use 4 almond and 2 vanilla)

6 cups flour (this is where high altitude changes it. I made it with 4 1/5 cups before I moved)

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder (this is also something I had to adjust. The original recipe uses 3-4 tsp!)

 

 

 

 

Add your butter and powdered sugar to the mixing bowl... START OUT SLOW. I cut my butter and then pulse the mixer on and off several times until they start to become more incorporated... otherwise powdered sugar is going to fly everywhere... just trust me on this one!

 

Combine until nice and creamy

 

In a separate bowl combine eggs and flavoring

 

Thoroughly mix and add to butter mixture. Mix until batter looks like this...

 

 In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir and slowly add to butter mixture. When you're adding flour spoonful by spoonful because your mixture doesn't have a very large opening, do you ever get impatient and just dump 1/2 the flour in? Yeah... me either.

 

 

Your mixer is probably going to have to work pretty hard to get everything combined so I always crank mine on high after a while .... especially when I have doubled the recipe.

 

When everything is combined, your dough shouldn't be very sticky. You should be able to press your fingers into the dough and not have any stick to your fingers. If it is sticking to you, just add more flour until it doesn't stick. Start with 1/8- 1/4 cup more.

 

While your dough is setting up go ahead and wash the dishes, get your supplies ready, and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. It is much easier to scrape your dough off of parchment paper than it is the counter... feels more sanitary too

 

Dough will be sticky enough that it will cling to your roling pin without some flour on top! Sugar cookie dough is meant to take on more flour, so don't worry! Also... After I have rolled out my dough and cut shapes from it 2-3 times I add fresh dough to the dough that has been folded and floured several times.

Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness (this is where those handy-dandy yellow spacers on my rolling pin come in handy)

 

See? The dough pulls right away and you have a nice clean edge! (Don't forget to flour your cookie cutter initially or the dough will stick to it and ruin your shape.

 

 

Bake at a 400 degrees (slightly higher for high altitude) for 4-5 minutes (this is getting really picky but I bake mine for 4 min and 15 seconds for normal sizes of 2-3 inches). Of course you know your oven. You really shouldn't have a lot of browning on the cookie. Of course... longer for bigger cookies and shorter for smaller cookies. EXPERIMENT! That's how everyone perfects a recipe.