Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Yield: About 4 dozen cookies

No holiday is complete without sugar cookies. This is an easy, no-roll-out version, and you can decorate them and make them special with many options that might surprise you. If you’ve previously shied away from making sugar cookies because of the work involved, try this recipe. You won’t be sorry. It’s pretty easy and who doesn’t love an old fashioned frosted sugar cookie at Christmas time  – or any time of year for that matter!

 

 

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons buttermilk

Raw sugar or colored sprinkles (optional decoration)

Instructions

In a small bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Blend the mixture to combine well. Set aside. In a large bowl, add the butter and sugar. Use a hand mixer, set on medium speed, to cream the butter and sugar together until it is smooth. Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, adding a small amount at a time and mixing well between additions.  Add the buttermilk one tablespoonful at a time. You just want to add enough buttermilk to moisten the dough and make it soft.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use a teaspoon to scoop up a rounded spoonful of dough. Roll the dough into a ball and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet, flattening the cookie slightly. Using a pastry brush dipped in the remaining buttermilk, moisten the top of each cookie. Then sprinkle with raw sugar or colored sprinkles. Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes or until the centers are firm and they begin to turn golden. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for 2 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Decoration Ideas

While it was suggested that you decorate these sugar cookies with raw sugar or sprinkles, there are many ways to add some fun, flavor, and visual appeal to your holiday cookies. Here are a few ideas you may want to try.

• Use a variety of holiday-related cookie cutters. From reindeer to mittens and snowmen to candy canes and even snowflakes, there are many cookie cutters shapes available today you are sure to find just what you’re looking for.

• Enhance the cookie’s taste by using flavored sugars to decorate.

• Mix a little powdered drink mix with granulated sugar and sprinkle on the cookies.

• Draw or paint on the cookies using food decorator pens – you can pick these up  at the market (there are recipes to make your own cookie paint as well, but being the queen of convenience….well, you know where I’m going with this!)

• Use a small stencil and colored sugar or food coloring to add a design or symbol quickly.