The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe
A sugar cookie is a cookie with the main ingredients being sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, and either baking powder or baking soda (depending on the type of sugar used). Sugar cookies may be formed by hand or rolled and cut into shapes. They are commonly decorated with additional sugar, icing, sprinkles, or a combination of these. Decorative shapes and figures can be cut into the rolled-out dough using a cookie cutter. In North America, sugar cookies are popular during the holidays of Christmas, Halloween, and Hanukkah. (Sugar Cookie Recipe)
Ingredients
- 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1.75 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted at room temperature
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (can substitute lemon or almond extract)
- 2 tablespoon buttermilk
Instructions
Step 1
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside for now.
Step 2
In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar, and mix everything together on medium speed until fluffy and well-mixed, about 1-2 minutes.
Step 3
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract and buttermilk. With the mixer running on low, add the dry ingredients, and mix until they’re just about incorporated. Stop the mixer when only a few streaks of flour remain. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula, and finish mixing all the dough by hand.
Step 4
Divide the dough in half and press each into a thin disc, wrapping well with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firmer but not hard, about 30 minutes.
Step 5
When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a disc of dough between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper, and roll out until it is 1/4-inch thick. Use a 3-inch heart cookie cutter to cut out your cookies and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Combine the scraps and re-roll the dough to cut more cookies. You should get about 24 large heart cookies. Put the sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking to help the cookies hold their shape.
Step 6
Bake the trays of cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to take on color and they have lost the raw shine in the middle. Let the cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove them to wire racks to cool completely before decorating them.