These soft and buttery sugar cookies are the perfect sugar cookie for you every need. Made with powdered sugar these are the most tender cookies and they are just the perfect sweetness to be eaten with or without icing.
Ah the sugar cookie. This is one of my favorite cookies to make during the holiday season. Along with the snickerdoodle you cannot go wrong during the holidays. With its light and buttery flavor and ability to hold its shape make this cookie perfect for decoration. They are easy to make and the batch is easily scalable so you can make all you need for your holiday baking or just because in one fell swoop. They make for a great activity with the family and plus the decorating part is so much fun>
In this recipe
One of my favorite parts about this recipe is that all the ingredients will already be in your kitchen or pantry. This makes them an accessible recipe for when you want some cookies.
Butter: for the richest cookies you want to get high fat butter such as European style butters.
Eggs: you will use both eggs and egg yolks for this recipe. You can make some royal icing with the remaining egg whites.
Salt: will help temper the sweetness of the cookies so the buttery flavors are more present.
Don't over mix the dough
Sugar cookies are a type of shortbread cookie. Shortbread cookies are defined by their high fat content. They are so called because of the crumbly texture that they have. This is only achieved by not developing the gluten in the flour. When you over mix these cookies or add a lot of ai into the butter you will change the consistency and get a crunchy and harder cookie that is not nearly as enjoyable. For this recipe you want everything to be mixed on a low speed and just until the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Chilling the sugar cookie dough
There are many recipes that have the dough does not need to be refrigerated. I however am in the camp that cookie dough should be refrigerated. By doing so you will get a few things that happen. Firstly, it gives the flour a time to rest and hydrate. This allows the gluten to relax to prevent tough cookies. Secondly, by keeping the fat cool then the cookies will not spread and deform as much, and gives nice edges. Finally, by flavor development increases as the dough as time to rest.
Why use powdered sugar in cookies?
The short answer to this is that it makes the cookies softer. One of the things that happens is that powdered sugar mixes in more easily with butter than granulated sugar. Think of the texture of icing versus the creamed butter and sugar stage of a cake. This also means it requires less mixing and therefore less air is added into the cookies. Also the granulated sugar when caramelizing adds to the crunch of the cookie. Since powdered sugar doesn’t caramelize it will lead to a more tender cookie. While you do want granulated sugar in the cookies the powdered sugar will help make it tender.
Tips and tricks
Here are some tips and tricks for making and storing the cookie or dough.
- To make sliced cookies roll the cookie dough into a log and refrigerate. Slice to the desired thickness to bake.
- For a sugar edge roll the log in the sugar before slicing.
- The dough can be frozen for up to two months stored in an air-tight container
- For even baking keep the dough thickness as even as possible.
- Store cookies in an air-tight for up to 10 days.
Looking for other holiday cookie recipes?
Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- Lined sheet pan
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie/Biscuit cutter
- Cling film
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ cup butter unsalted, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp salt kosher
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
Instructions
- In a bowl combine and mix the salt and flour.
- In a stand mixer, on medium speed, beat butter until smooth only a minute or two. Add the sugars until just combined. Add the egg and egg yolks until they are just mixed in.
- Add the flour and salt to the butter mixture and mix until everything is just incorporated. Pour onto cling film and cover with another piece of cling film. Shape into a disk and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or gas mark 4.
- Remove the disk from the refrigerator and roll out to desired thickness no thicker than ¼" . By using cling film or parchment paper to roll out the dough you can reuse the scraps without changing the texture of the dough. Refrigerate or freeze for a few minutes to let the dough firm up. If the dough was refrigerated overnight allow to sit for about 5 minutes before rolling as it will be quite hard.
- Cut out the cookies in the desired shape and place onto the lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies should remain pale in color or with just a hint of brown on the edges.
- Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remainder of the dough.
Nutrition
