The Ultimate Sugar Cookie Recipes

ULTIMATE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat sugar and shortening at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, syrup and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add combined dry ingredients at low speed. Mix until well blended.
• Refrigerate dough 1 hour.
• Roll out dough between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper. Cut out with floured cutter.
• Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 5-9 minutes, depending on size and thickness of cookies. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes, then remove from cookie sheets to cool.

THE ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips., Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour and salt in a small bowl.
• Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 6 minutes with a handheld. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
• Form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out 1 disk of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into an 8 1/2-inch round (1/4 inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm.) Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with cutters and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart.
• Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, gather scraps and chill until dough is firm enough to reroll, 10 to 15 minutes. Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll scraps only once) and bake on cooled baking sheets.
• If using icing and coloring it, transfer 1/4 cup icing to a small bowl for each color and tint with food coloring. Spoon each color icing into a sealable bag, pressing out excess air, and snip a 1/8-inch opening in 1 bottom corner of bag. Twisting bag firmly just above icing, decoratively pipe icing onto cookies. Let icing dry completely (about 1 hour) before storing cookies.

THE ULTIMATE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Set oven to 375 degrees.
• Prepare an ungreased cookie sheet.
• In a small bowl stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
• In a medium or large bowl cream butter with sugar for about 3-4 minutes or until smooth.
• Add in egg, vanilla and almond extract; beat until well combined.
• Add in the creamed ingredients into the flour mixture; blend well.
• Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough into small balls.
• Place the balls onto an ungreased cookie/baking sheet.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden.
• Let stand on the cookie sheet for about 2-3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.

ULTIMATE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375.
• Place sheets of foil on countertop for cooling cookies. Combine sugar and butter flavor crisco in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
• Add eggs, syrup, and vanilla. Beat until well blended and fluffy.
• Combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix until well blended. Divide dough into 4 quarters.
• TIP: If dough is too sticky or too soft to roll: Wrap each quarter of dough with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
• Spread 1 T of flour onto large sheet of waxed paper. Place one-fourth of dough on floured paper. Flatten slightly with hands.
• Turn dough over and cover with another large sheet of waxed paper.
• Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out with floured cutter. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet. Place 2 inches apart.
• Sprinkle with granulated sugar or colored sugar crystals, or leave plain to frost when cooled.
• Sprinkle with granulated sugar or colored sugar crystals, or leave plain to frost when cooled.Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 for 5-9 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies[bake smaller, thinner cookies closer to 5 minutes; larger cookies closer to 9 minutes].
• Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely, then frost if desired.