The Best Sugar Cookies

Hello and welcome! No matter the holiday, Sugar Cookies are always a winning treat. They can be cut into whatever shapes you like and decorated to your heart’s desire. I have come to realize that having a reliable, easy (read: hard to screw up) Sugar Cookie recipe is a must. It is typical for me to over-work dough; this recipe really solves that problem because it all comes together in the food processor. Let’s get to the easiest, Best Sugar Cookies!

With the Sugar Cookie recipe nailed down, the only thing left for me to screw up is the icing. And boy, did I. I wanted pink or red Royal Icing. What I got was lavender? Purple? Bluish-grey? Turns out those natural food colorings don’t keep their color for very long. My pink and red colorings had turned orange and brown. (This of course, I realized only after I had squirted several drops into the entire batch of Royal Icing. Measure once, cut twice, right?) Purple was still good though, purple would save me. So I went with that. The rest played out as you can imagine; purple mixed with brownish-orange makes a muddy purple.

I suppose I could have made a trip to the grocery store and purchased some red food coloring so that these cookies were picture-perfect. But, I don’t love the ingredient list of the food coloring at my supermarket. Do these taste just as amazing if the royal icing is not the right color? Yes, yes they do. Go With It.

The Best Sugar Cookies

Let’s get to the sugar cookies. Cut your two sticks of unsalted butter into 1/2-inch cubes first, then put the cubed butter in the freezer while we measure and prep the rest of the ingredients.

In addition to the butter, we have an egg, salt, sugar, flour, baking soda and baking powder, vanilla and almond extract. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, almond extract and salt. Set that aside. Whisk the baking powder and soda into the flour mixture and set that aside, too.

Process the granulated sugar in the food processor for about 30 seconds to create fine sugar. Then add the very cold cubed butter to the sugar.

Process the butter and fine sugar for about 30 seconds, until a uniform mass forms and there are no more cubes of butter.

Then pour in the egg mixture and process for another 30 seconds, until the mixture forms a paste.

Then pour in the flour mixture and process for about 30 seconds, until no more dry flour remains.

Turn the dough out onto your work surface, bring the dough together and gently knead the crumbles into a disc. Then cut in half with a knife or bench scraper.

Set the two halves aside and wipe clean the work surface. Then lay a sheet of parchment down, place one of the halves in the center. Form the dough into a round disc and then use your hands to flatten it a bit.

Lay another sheet of parchment on top, and use a rolling pin to smoosh and roll the dough into an oval, 1/8-inch thick.

Keep the dough between the parchment sheets and lift the rolled dough and set in a sheet tray. Repeat this rolling process with the second half of dough and place the second rolled dough, parchment and all, on top of the first rolled dough. Place the whole sheet tray in the freezer for 30 minutes, or in the fridge for an hour and 30 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Time to Cut and Bake!

Working with one sheet of dough at a time, transfer the dough (still between the parchment) to a work surface. Gently pull off the top layer of parchment. Then replace that sheet of parchment and flip the dough over. Remove that bottom (now top) piece of parchment, use that piece of parchment to lay on an overturned rimmed sheet tray, or rimless cookie sheet.

It’s important to pull off, then replace that first sheet of parchment. Since we are cutting out the shapes with the dough on the parchment, it will be hard to transfer the shapes from the parchment without screwing up the shape, unless that dough has been loosened from that sheet of parchment.

Transfer cut shapes to prepared cookie sheet or overturned rimmed sheet tray. We want a rim-less baking surface so the cookies get even heat on all sides.

I used 5-inch hearts, so I got 12 large hearts. If you’re using smaller-sized shapes, expect about 40 2.5-inch cookies. You can re-roll the scraps once. The cookies will be less tender, so don’t re-roll scraps more than once.

Bake the cookies for 14-17 minutes, turning the tray halfway through bake time. The cookies should be lightly, evenly golden around the edges.

Let cool on the tray for about 5 minutes. Then use a spatula to transfer the cookies (minus the parchment) to a wire cooling rack until completely cool.

Decorate

These Sugar Cookies are delicious unadorned, but you can jazz them up with whatever decoration you prefer. I like Royal Icing because it sets up nicely without taking anything away from the tenderness of the cookie. Royal Icing has a marshmallowy texture when it’s soft thanks to the egg whites in the recipe.

For the Royal Icing: in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk together egg whites, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract on medium-low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute. Then switch the speed to medium-high and whip until soft glossy peaks form. About 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

The Royal Icing is thick and spreadable, so I just used an offset spatula to spread the icing on each cooled cookie, leaving a 1/8-inch border. You can pipe the icing onto the cooled cookies, and make designs if you like. Once they were all iced, I sprinkled the tops with colored sugar crystals. Let the icing dry for about 1.5 hours before serving.

Thank you for coming on this Sugar Cookie/Royal Icing Journey with me, Lol! All jokes about my Dark Heart cookies aside, this Sugar Cookie recipe is wonderfully easy. A recipe to hold on to for any, and every occasion. Honestly, this whole recipe (icing included), gave me a ton of confidence to get more creative with my sugar cookie baking and decorating. I hope it can do the same for you, too! Take care and be well everyone! xo Kelly

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Best Sugar Cookies

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Dessert, Snack – American

By America's Test Kitchen – Serves: Makes about 40 2.5-inch Cookies

Prep Time: 20 Minutes (plus 30 minutes cooling time in the freezer) – Cooking Time: 14-17 Minutes, per batch – Total Time: ~1.5 Hours

Buttery, light and tender with the perfect snap, these sugar cookies are a hit for every holiday, shaped and decorated as your heart desires.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Egg
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 tsp. Fine Sea Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Almond Extract
• 2.5 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 16 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
• Royal Icing
• 2 ⅔ cups (10 2/3 ounces) Confectioners' Sugar
• 2 Large Egg Whites
• 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 tsp. Fine Sea Salt

Instructions

1

Cut the two sticks of unsalted butter into 1/2-inch cubes first, then put the cubed butter in the freezer while we measure and prep the rest of the ingredients.

2

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, almond extract and salt. Set that aside.

3

Whisk the baking powder and soda into the flour mixture and set that aside.

4

In a food processor, process the granulated sugar for about 30 seconds to create fine sugar. Then add the very cold cubed butter to the sugar.

5

Process the butter and fine sugar for about 30 seconds, until a uniform mass forms and there are no more cubes of butter.

6

Then pour in the egg mixture and process for another 30 seconds, until the mixture forms a paste.

7

Then pour in the flour mixture and process for about 30 seconds, until no more dry flour remains.

8

Turn dough out onto your work surface, bring the dough together and gently knead the crumbles into a disc. Then cut in half with a knife or bench scraper.

9

Set the two halves aside and wipe clean the work surface. Then lay a sheet of parchment down, place one of the halves in the center. Form the dough into a round disc and then use your hands to flatten it a bit.

10

Lay another sheet of parchment on top, and use a rolling pin to smoosh and roll the dough into an oval, 1/8-inch thick.

11

Keep the dough between the parchment sheets and lift the rolled dough and set in a sheet tray. Repeat this rolling process with the second half of dough and place the second rolled dough, parchment and all, on top of the first rolled dough. Place the whole sheet tray in the freezer for 30 minutes, or in the fridge for an hour and 30 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

12

Working with one sheet of dough at a time, gently pull off the top layer of parchment. Then replace that sheet of parchment and flip the dough over. Remove that bottom (now top) piece of parchment, use that piece of parchment to lay on an overturned rimmed sheet tray, or rimless cookie sheet.

13

Transfer cut shapes to prepared cookie sheet or overturned rimmed sheet tray. We want a rim-less baking surface so the cookies get even amounts of heat on all sides.

14

Bake the cookies for 14-17 minutes, turning the tray halfway through bake time. The cookies should be lightly, evenly golden around the edges.

15

Let cool on the tray for about 5 minutes. Then use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack until completely cool.

16

Frost and decorate the completely cooled cookies as desired, if making Royal Icing, let the icing dry for about 1.5 hours before serving.

Royal Icing

17

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk together egg whites, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract on medium low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute. Then switch the speed to medium-high and whip until soft glossy peaks form. About 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.