Sugar cookies are vanilla butter cut-outs rolled before chilling, baked low so the shapes stay sharp, then iced for decorating. That makes them the Christmas cookie for a cookie exchange, decorating with kids or a gift tin, since the dough never fights you. One batch gives 5 dozen.
Roll the dough first and chill it second, which is the reverse of what most recipes ask. Flattened to a quarter inch between two sheets of paper, it firms in two hours. It comes out ready to cut, with no extra flour and no cracking.
Food Network’s own page title calls these savory sugar cookies, which they are not. There is nothing savory in the list, only butter, vanilla, sugar and flour, and the heading on the page itself says sugar cookies.
Sugar Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalA low sugar butter dough rolled flat between parchment, chilled, cut into shapes and baked gently until the edges just turn gold. Finished with a simple milk and sugar icing.
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly soft
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus as needed
- For the Icing:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
About 1 tablespoon milk
Food coloring, if desired
Sprinkles, candies and colored sugar, as desired
Directions
- Cream the butter: Whisk the egg and vanilla in a small bowl and set it aside. Cream the butter in a large bowl until fluffy, scrape down, add both sugars and beat 2 to 3 minutes until light. Beat in the egg mixture for about a minute.
- Add the flour: Sift the salt with the flour. Drop the mixer to low and add the flour mixture, stopping the moment it is blended. Overworking it now is what makes a tough cookie.
- Roll, then chill: Turn the dough out and divide it in half. Put each half between two lightly floured sheets of parchment or waxed paper and roll it into a disk a quarter inch thick. Slide the sheets onto a flat baking sheet and refrigerate about 2 hours or overnight.
- Cut and bake: Heat the oven to 325 degrees F with the racks evenly spaced. Peel the top paper off one disk and cut shapes with a 1 1/2 inch cutter straight on the parchment. Lift them onto lined sheets an inch apart and bake about 15 minutes, until the edges are light gold. Re-roll and chill the scraps.
- Ice and set: Whisk the confectioners sugar with just enough milk to make a thick icing, then tint it if you like. Spoon it into a small bag, snip a tiny corner and pipe your pattern. Add sprinkles while it is wet and leave it about an hour to harden.
Notes
- There is no baking powder or soda in this dough, which is why the cut edges stay sharp. The 60 calories a cookie on the original checks out. Food Network titles this page savory sugar cookies, but nothing in the recipe is savory.
FAQs
Why is there no baking powder or soda?
Leavening makes a cookie puff and spread, which rounds off every corner you just cut. Leaving it out keeps the edges exactly where the cutter put them. It also gives the firm, slightly sandy bite that holds up under icing.
Why bake at 325 and not 350?
A lower oven dries the cookie through before the edges color, so they come out pale and even. Pale cookies matter here, because tinted icing reads true on a light background. Fifteen minutes is longer than most sugar cookies and that is deliberate.
Do I have to use a 1 1/2-inch cutter?
That size is what gives five dozen from the batch, so a bigger cutter means fewer and slightly longer baking. Keep every cookie on a tray the same size or the small ones burn while the big ones set. Re-roll the scraps, chill them and cut again.
Is this the same as a butter cookie?
Not quite, since this dough carries less sugar and no leavening, which makes it firmer and better for cutting. A piped dough is softer and richer, like these butter spritz cookies. Both use the same creaming method to start.
How long do they keep?
Iced and fully dry, about a week in an airtight tin with parchment between the layers. The unbaked dough disks freeze for three months and cut straight from the fridge after thawing. Keep them like these butter cookies, cool and away from anything damp.
