Sugar Cookie

I am a sugar cookie snob.

Maybe it's because I'm not the biggest fan of frosting.  I hate it when a sugar cookie is basically a flavorless cracker for frosting. 
I want FLAVOR IN THE COOKIE!

I'm also really critical of cookie texture.  I like soft cookies.  Once again, not a cracker.  To me, a sugar cookie should be soft and chewy, if you fold it in half, it should bend then break, not snap. Melt in your mouth rather than crunch.

So if you are nodding in agreement to this point, there's a good chance you may like to try my mom's sugar cookie recipe.  I think people have varied expectations for sugar cookies, so I give you what I like out of a sugar cookie, so you can know if this cookie may be to your liking.  My mom played with different amounts of cream cheese, sour cream, and butter base to get the right balance for these cookies to have both flavor and texture.

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Sugar Cookies

original recipe from Sheila Kelly (my mom)

INGREDIENTS: 
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. sour cream
3 c. sugar
4 eggs (only 3 if you use XLarge eggs)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp lemon juice (I don't use fresh, concentrate from fridge)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
7 1/2 c. flour

DIRECTIONS:
PREHEAT to 375 degrees.
1.  Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and sour cream. 
2.Add sugar, mix until smooth and creamy. 
3.Add eggs and beat until mixture light and kind of fluffy. 
4. Pour in vanilla, almond extract and lemon juice. Mix in.
5. Add the dry ingredients, adding flour 1 -2 c. at a time. 
**You may have to adjust the flour by 1/2 c. or so.  I know the dough is the right consistency when it begins to pull away from the bowl when the dough paddles come by.  You want the dough to be sticky, but if you pinch it, the dough should pull off easily for the most part, if it just gooes between your fingers, you need more flour.  Or if you push the back of a metal spoon in the dough, you should be able to pull it up with out dough clinging to it.

6. Refrigerate dough 1-2 hours.  I do, but my mom doesn't and just starts cutting out cookies.  Do what you want, I think it's easier to cut cookies with a firmer dough.
7. Roll out cookies 1/4 inch thick, cut with cookie cutter shapes. 
8. Bake on greased cookie sheet 8-10 minutes.

HERE'S MY TIPS if you care.

1. To measure the sour cream, I use one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, (Katherine or Natalie introduced it to me) the cylinder measuring cup.  It's great for the thick sticky things you hate measuring like honey, peanut butter, sour cream, molasses, pumpkin puree, applesauce, etc.  It's like a huge syringe, so you just push the stopper up, pouring your ingredient out completely.  Great for measuring liquids too, all with the same handy tool.  The only bad thing is it is hand wash only.  But it's affordable. 

Buy this cylinder measuring cup on amazon HERE.  It's eligible for free shipping if you get your cart to $25 so buy two, give one to your mom. 

2. I don't use flour to roll them out.  I use a marble rolling pin, and if the dough is the right consistency, you shouldn't need flour.  If it's too sticky, use the flour, you do need it then.  The less flour, the softer the cookie, and you won't have the extra flour dust on the finished cookies when you go to frost them.

3. I use silicone baking mats for these cookies, rather than just greasing a cookie sheet.  The reason is, sugar cookies look better if I don't have to pick them up and transfer them onto the cookie sheet once they're cut them out.  Lots of times they get distorted and you can't tell what cookie cutter shape I was even using. So the tip is to roll them out on the cookie sheet.

But I don't have those completely flat baking sheets.  So I roll out the dough on a silpat, cut the shapes, and then pull off the extra dough in between.  Then I just slide the whole silpat/ cookies on to the cookie sheet.  Quick, no messy "lightly floured surface", no transfering each cookie, and no re-greasing of cookie sheets.

4. Know when your cookies are done.  The baking time varies due to the thickness of your cookie, size of cookie, and it seems the first few batches always take longer than the end, probably due to temperature of cookie sheets when you begin baking them.  So I set the timer for 7 minutes on these, and add 1 -2 minutes at a time until they are done. 

This also gets into the kind of sugar cookie you like best. I like them soft.  If you are judging by the top of the cookies, they will kind of puff, then crack.  My experience is, if I wait for the edges to start to brown, they are overcooked. 

So my method lacks precision, but works.  Once they've puffed, and are looking like they are cracking, around 8 min. or so, I scoop one up close to the edge and flip it over.  It should be barely beginning to brown.  Then I eat it for a thorough second check.  Then I either add time, or take the pan out.

I let them sit on the pan while I put the next batch in the oven and set the timer, so about 1 minute or so. 

Here is my taste for the perfect sugar cookie:

Bottom check:

Fold a cookie in half, does it open to airy, light, soft goodness as you see here? So soft, there aren't any crumbs, they just cling in moist, yummy cookie form? 

That is the perfect sugar cookie.

If you're wondering how many cookies this recipe makes, it's hard to say because much depends on how thick you roll your dough, the shape/ size of your cookie cutter.  But here is my whole batch minus all the cookie dough we ate, and the cookies I ate during the "checking to see they're done" part, and the cookies stolen by my husband and kid during the process.  So quite a few, enough to share with neighbors, or just cut the recipe in half.

At this point go ahead and frost them.  Make them pretty.  But I always make a few at the end with the left over amount of dough that gets too small to roll out for cookie cutters.  I roll it in a ball, roll it in sugar, and lightly flatten it.  Sugar rolled sugar cookie...hold the frosting.  That is the perfect sugar cookie to me, I ate it before I got a picture of it.  And I realize most people love the frosting.  

**Once frosted, allow frosting to set/ dry, then store cookies in air-tight container with wax paper in between each layer.  We've never had any left over to need to freeze, so I don't know about how well they would freeze or anything.

So much to be said for a simple sugar cookie recipe, much probably not that necessary and may not produce a noticable difference to the general public, but obviously these cookies are a big deal to me. I hope all my blabbering details didn't deter you from trying the recipe.