I am normally rather picky about which recipes I like. Sugar cookies--- well let's just say that they are one thing that I am perhaps overly picky about. I can't stand to eat most sugar cookies. I do like the huge pink store bought Sugar Cookies with sprinkles.... and I like this recipe. That's pretty much it. My husband and a couple of my kids won't eat sugar cookies at all. My oldest.... loves them. And has been choosing sugar cookies (or a large sugar cookie) instead of a birthday cake for a few years now. Here is my recipe- I got it from a big book titled "Cookies". Not very helpful, but that recipe book is in storage right now, so I can't pull it out to find out who published the book. I even tried to do an online search, but do you know how many cookie cookbooks are out there? When the first several search result pages didn't show it, I decided it would have to wait for when my stuff is out of storage. So, here's the recipe that I use:
Sugar Cookies
2 cups Sugar 5 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sour cream 2 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs 2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter 1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup shortening 1 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. salt
Combine the sugar, sour cream, eggs, butter, shortening, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix until creamy. Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Slowly add to the first mixture. Do it carefully so your mixer doesn't look like this after you're done!
Once mixed together, chill dough for 1-2 hours. I used to just stick the bowl in the fridge with plastic wrap over the top. But then I learned that it works so much better to divide the dough into 2 or 3 portions, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill. It chills it faster, and the dough doesn't dry out. It also has the advantage of being less messy, and easier to add a fresh portion of dough each time you go to roll out the cookies.
After the dough has chilled, roll one section out to 1/4 inch thickness onto a floured counter. These will puff up while baking, so don't worry- they won't stay a flat 1/4"! Cut them out using 3" cookie cutters. You can use bigger cookie cutters- just cook them longer. Or you can use smaller cookie cutters- just shorten the baking time. Place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes. You'll want to pull them out when the bottom edges are just barely starting to brown. The tops of the cookies shouldn't be even remotely brown! Let them rest on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.
Sugar Cookie Frosting: mix 1/2 cup shortening (butter flavored tastes best), 1/2 cup butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 tsp. almond extract, 4 cups powdered sugar, and 3-4 Tbs. milk. Beat until really light and fluffy. Divide into bowls and dye according to how you would like to decorate the cookies. Wrap each cookie in plastic wrap or store in a tightly covered container with waxed paper in between each layer of cookies.
Here is Kaili's large birthday cookie from last year. I hope you like them, too!
