Gram Opals Sugar Cookies Recipes

GRAM OPAL'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 baking sheets.
• Sift flour, baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon salt together in a bowl.
• Beat 1 cup butter, white sugar, and egg in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour mixture, vanilla extract, and lemon extract to butter mixture; stir until dough is well blended. Roll cookie dough into walnut-size balls and place 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Press each ball down with the bottom of a glass to flatten slightly.
• Bake in the preheated oven until baked through, 6 to 7 minutes. Cool.
• Stir confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, hot water, and vanilla together in a bowl until sugar is completely dissolved and icing is smooth. Spread icing on cooled cookies and top each cookie with a pecan.

OLD SCHOOL SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a big bowl, combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest, salt and vanilla and mix until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the baking powder, taking care to mix well. Add the eggs and egg yolk and stir well. Add the flours and gently stir until a smooth ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet (or sheets) with parchment paper (no cooking spray).
• On a floured surface, roll out tennis ball-size pieces of dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shapes you want. Lay them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1/4 inch between each cookie.
• Bake for 8 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack, then decorate them however you like with Royal Icing and your favorite sprinkles.
• Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, whip most of the powdered sugar with most of the other ingredients. Whip for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the royal icing holds its shape and is bright white (not translucent). If it is too soft, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add a bit more liquid, drop by drop. If you are using only one color, add a few drops of the color at this point and keep whipping until you have the shade you want; otherwise, proceed to the next step.
• To store royal icing, the ideal way is to scrape it out of the bowl and into a plastic, disposable piping bag, then leave it at room temperature. Don't cut the bag until you're ready to use the royal icing, and don't overfill the bag--you want enough room to tie the back of the bag off to keep the royal icing airtight. If any air comes into contact with the royal icing, it gets hard and that part of the icing is useless. Never attempt to mix the hard bits back into the royal icing--you'll ruin the whole batch. The other accepted method of storing royal icing is to scrape it into a plastic or ceramic bowl, and cover it with a wet paper towel. This method works, but it wastes both paper towels and royal icing. It's also just annoying. When you're piping small designs, you want to use very small parchment piping bags. It's easy to stick the nose of a large piping bag into a smaller one and extract exactly how much you'll need. When the icing is in a bowl, you have to use a spoon to get it out. The spoon is difficult to get into a piping bag, and you'll keep using spoons and wasting royal icing. Get with the times people. Do it right and don't waste food.

GRANDMA'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the sugar, butter, vanilla and salt. Add eggs and mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture. Chill until firm, about 1 hour., On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut shapes with cookie cutters; place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7-12 minutes (depending on size) or until light golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., In a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, extract and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Tint with food coloring. Decorate cookies as desired.

GRANDMA'S SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat together eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar; add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.
• Drop by heaping teaspoon approx 3" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Flatten with bottom of glass moistened with water and dipped in sugar.
• Bake at 400°F for 6-10 minutes or just until lightly golden.

SUGAR COOKIES 2.0

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside.
• Place butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Start the mixer on low, then gradually increase the speed to medium and continue to beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the temperature of the butter.
• Slow the mixer to low and add the egg, followed by the milk, then return to medium speed and beat until smooth, about 30 seconds. Then, slow the mixer yet again, gradually add the flour, and mix until dough comes together, about 30 more seconds.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and split into two equal portions. Form these into balls, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with the oven racks in the upper middle and lower middle positions. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Use a small strainer or sifter to sprinkle your rolling surface with confectioners' sugar. Remove 1 dough from the refrigerator, place on the sugar-dusted counter, and dust with a little additional sugar. Working quickly (so the butter doesn't have time to melt), roll the dough to a quarter-inch thickness. (I use pastry guides for this.)
• Cut dough into desired shapes and place at least 1 inch apart on the prepared sheet pans. Re-roll the scraps one time and cut into additional cookies. Discard any remaining dough; do not re-roll a second time. (Okay, I admit I eat it raw, but that's me.) Bake both pans of cookies, rotating halfway through baking time, until the cookies are just brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• While the first batch is baking, roll and cut the second half of the dough. Bake and cool the second batch, then decorate as desired...or don't. Frankly, they're plenty good with no icing at all.

GRAM OPAL'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 baking sheets.
• Sift flour, baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon salt together in a bowl.
• Beat 1 cup butter, white sugar, and egg in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour mixture, vanilla extract, and lemon extract to butter mixture; stir until dough is well blended. Roll cookie dough into walnut-size balls and place 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Press each ball down with the bottom of a glass to flatten slightly.
• Bake in the preheated oven until baked through, 6 to 7 minutes. Cool.
• Stir confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, hot water, and vanilla together in a bowl until sugar is completely dissolved and icing is smooth. Spread icing on cooled cookies and top each cookie with a pecan.

GRANDMA GERTIE'S OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together shortening, sugar and salt.
• Add eggs and mix thoroughly.
• Add sour cream,soda, almond extract and vanilla - mix thoroughly.
• Stir in the flour 1 to 2 cups at a time.
• Round into balls, roll in sugar and flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes until edges are a light golden brown.
• It will make 4-8 dozen depending on the size of cookie you make. You can sprinkle decorating sugars on top for a decorated touch.

GRAM'S SUGAR COOKIES RECIPE - (4.7/5)

Steps:

• Cookies: Cream sugar and margarine (or butter). Mix in egg and flavoring. Into another bowl, mix dry ingredients. Mix the dry ingredient mixture into the sugar and magazine (butter) and egg mixture. Form 2 big balls and flatten in between wax paper for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator. You can use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. This helps when you are using a cookie cutter for shapes. The dough is much easier to work with after being in the fridge. Heat oven at 350. For decoration, you can add sprinkles to the cookies before you bake them and they will bake into the cookies. If you want icing, wait for the cookies to cool after baking. Bake for 8-9 minutes. If you are making thinner cookies, check the cookies at 6 minutes. Frosting (use store bought icing for a quick alternative): Beat ingredients in a electric mixer. Change proportion of ingredients to get proper consistency.

CHEWY EARL GREY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees and line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Put 1/2 cup/100 grams granulated sugar in a small bowl or shallow dish and set aside.
• Combine the butter and tea leaves in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Melt the butter, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to sizzle around the edges. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
• Add the tea butter to a large bowl, then add brown sugar, salt, orange zest and remaining ¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar. Use an electric mixer on medium speed or a whisk to combine for about 30 seconds; the mixture will be grainy and separated. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix until combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
• Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl, and mix on low speed or with a rubber spatula until just combined. Use the spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure the dough is evenly mixed.
• Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookies. Alternatively, measure 2 tablespoons of dough with a measuring spoon. Roll each dough ball in the reserved granulated sugar, then place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart.
• Bake the cookies until set, light golden around and crackled on top, 16 to 19 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back in the oven halfway through the baking time. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets. Store extra cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or for a few weeks in the freezer.