A Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to sugar cookies? ›

Easy Add-In: After creating the dough according to the sugar cookie mix instructions, Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream to create a tangier, cakier and all-around more flavorful cookie. Flavor Twist: For a punchier twist, swap the water in the sugar cookie mix instructions for rum, bourbon or coffee liqueur.

With so little ingredients, it's important that you follow the recipe closely. Creamed butter and sugar provide the base of the cookie dough. Egg is the cookie's structure and vanilla extract adds flavor. I almost always add a touch of almond extract for additional flavor and highly recommend that you try it too!

Working the dough too much.

Thankfully I was eventually steered in the right direction. Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender.

You may not have used enough water, margarine or egg. Be sure to measure ingredients carefully.

Scooping then chilling your cookie dough for at least. 2 hours before baking. As you can see, this primarily affects spread and height, both of which significantly contribute to texture.

It depends on your baking style and what's important to you. Convection is going to be better at making sure the cookies bake evenly, reducing or even eliminating the need to rotate your cookies relative to the heating element. The fan in a convection oven creates a drier environment which is good for browning.

What happens if you add too much sugar to sugar cookies? ›

Sugar sweetens the cookies and makes them an enticing golden brown. Adding too little sugar can affect the taste and texture of cookies. Adding too much can cause them to be brittle. Take your time creaming the sugar and butter together at the beginning.

“When chilled cookies bake, the butter stays in a solid form longer, slowing the spread,” says Dawn. “30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator does wonders, and you can bake the cookies right from the fridge.” Not only will chilling help the fats firm up and the flour hydrate, but it also helps the flavors develop.

Chilling the dough also improves the way your cookies taste. "In terms of flavor, you'll notice more depth of flavor from the vanilla and the sugar will taste sweeter," says Haught Brown. "In terms of texture, chilled cookie dough produces a more evenly golden-brown cookie with a crisper edge and chewier center."

Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze! If you plan to store it for only a few hours or days, there's no need to overwrap the baking sheet; for longer storage, wrap the entire baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap before freezing.

Decorate After Baking

In order to add colored sugar to baked cookies, the sugar needs something to adhere to. Icing is the perfect choice. Bake and cool the cookies as directed by the recipe. Ice the very cool cookies with your favorite icing and top with your choice of colored sugar.

When your oven temperature is too high the fats in the cookie dough will melt much faster than they would with the normal baking temperature. This means that before the dough has time to bake and set the butter as spread out already and you will end up with flat and shapeless cookies.