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Lets bake my favourite homemade sugar cookies!
Due to high demand, the very first holiday recipe I make every single year is always Sugar Cookies! Everyone who tries the recipe for The Best Homemade Sugar Cookies falls in love because they are super light and fluffy and not too sweet! They are easy to make and bake so quickly, so you won’t have to wait too long until you can take a bite!
When I was young and first learned how to cook, I gravitated towards baking. My mom had this old Betty Crocker cookbook that was filled with classic and delicious recipes. The sugar cookie recipe was a total hit with my family! Over the years I have created and perfected my own sugar cookie recipe that was inspired from that very Betty Crocker cookbook.
Let’s get to it and make The Best Homemade Sugar Cookies. It is the perfect recipe to make during the holidays! I think you’re really going to like it 🙂
How to make the perfect Sugar Cookies
- First things first, there is one ingredient that can make or break a sugar cookie… the butter. In my experience, I find that the butter should be at room temperature when baking sugar cookies. When the butter is at room temperature, it is solid yet can easily be whipped. This allows the cookies to be fluffy and light!
- The combination of baking soda and cream of tartar will give you the perfect light and fluffy cookie! These ingredients will allow the cookies to fluff up in the oven and will turn out delicious every single time! Note that these ingredients don’t always hold the perfect crisp, cut-out shape. They still hold their shape, but the cookies will expand slightly while baking.
- If you prefer a cut-out sugar cookie that holds it shape perfectly, then I recommend omitting both the baking soda and cream of tartar and replacing these two ingredients with baking powder. Baking powder allows the sugar cookies to fluff up slightly, but hold the exact shape of the cookie cutter you use.
- These cookies bake quickly!! The type of oven you have will impact the cooking time slightly, but they generally take anywhere from 7-9 minutes to bake. The cookies may appear to be under baked when they come out of the oven, but keep in mind that they will continue to bake for a few minutes as they cool.
- These sugar cookies are perfect as they are, but are also great for decorating! I usually only decorate with sprinkles, but feel free to use your favourite frosting if you like!
Recipe Notes:
* The dough will need to chill for about 2 hours before baking
* The butter should be at room temperature
* You can omit both the baking soda and cream of tartar and use 2 tsp of baking powder instead if you like
Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
Sprinkles for decorating
Method
Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl with a hand mixer. This should take a few minutes for it to get smooth and perfectly combined.
Add the vanilla extract, almond extract and egg to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Using a hand mixer, blend until all of the ingredients are fully combined and smooth.
In a separate bowl, gently mix the all purpose flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Please note that the dough will seem slightly dry at this point. Pour the dough onto a flat surface like the countertop and use your hands to knead the dough until it comes together and is no longer dry.
Separate the dough into two balls (this makes the dough easier to roll out after it has been chilled). Wrap each ball of dough in saran wrap and place in the fridge to cool for about 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I like to bake my sugar cookies using a convection oven, although regular bake works perfectly as well!
Roll out your dough onto a floured surface and cut into shapes using holiday cookie cutters. Sprinkle each cookie with the sprinkles of your choice.
Place the sugar cookies onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes or until cooked through. Do not over bake! The cookies may seem slightly under baked, but note they will continue to cook once they have been removed from the oven as they cool.
Allow to cool and enjoy!!
I hope you love the recipe for The Best Homemade Sugar Cookies!
These sugar cookies pair perfectly with a delicious cup of hot chocolate or an eggnog latte! Check out my recipes for these yummy drinks here:
The Best Homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Delicious Holiday Eggnog Latte
Make sure to tag me on instagram if you make any of my recipes!
Your Girl,
A