Puffy Sugar Cookies Recipes

SOFT SUGAR COOKIE PUFFS

Steps:

• In a bowl, beat eggs; add cream and beat well. Beat in the sugar, butter and almond extract. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters dipped in flour. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle with colored sugars, pressing sugar into dough if needed., Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

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.

SUGARED PUFF-PASTRY TEA COOKIES

Steps:

• Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• While the puff pastry is still mostly frozen but somewhat pliable, unfold it onto a work surface and cut it into 3-by-3/4-inch rectangles. If your puff pastry has seams, cut along these seams and then cut into rectangles. Transfer the rectangles to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1/4 inch of space between cookies.
• Whisk the sugar, egg white and lemon juice together in a medium bowl until the sugar is fully incorporated and the mixture is thick but spreadable. Using a pastry brush or an offset spatula, evenly spread a thick layer of the sugar mixture onto each cookie, using all the sugar mixture.
• Bake the cookies, rotating the sheets back to front and top to bottom halfway through, until the pastry is puffed and golden brown and the sugar topping is golden and shiny, 10 to 14 minutes. Cool on the pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

OLD TIME SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together the shortening and the sugar. Stir in the egg, buttermilk and vanilla.
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir to combine. Chill dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. If desired sprinkle tops of cookies with white sugar before baking.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
• Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 7 to 9 minutes or until set.

PUFFY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream the butter and the sugar.
• Add eggs and vanilla. Alternate milk and the flour mixture to the batter.
• Refrigerate before rolling out dough.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
• When cool, ice with your favorite icing and decorations.

FLUFFY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together butter, sugars, egg yolk and sour milk (I add 1 tbsp of sour cream to milk and whisk).
• Mix dry ingredients.
• Mix dry ingredients into creamed butter mixture.
• Fold stiffened egg white into batter.
• Drop batter onto cookie sheets 1 inch apart. sprinkle with additional sugar or cinnamon-sugar mixture, if desired.
• Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes.

BUTTERY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Sprinkle with sugar; place a walnut or raisin in the center of each if desired. , Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.