Recipe #58 - Sugar Cookies

Confession...I was not very excited to try this recipe.  I have a sugar cookie recipe that I just love.  My sister gave it to me many moons ago, and its the only one I ever use.  It makes big, fat, puffy sugar cookies that I adore.  The fact that the picture in the cookbook shows a flat (although pretty) sugar cookie turned me off to the recipe.  I like the flat crispy ones just fine, but my heart (and fat pants) like the soft fluffy ones more.

What I didn't know is that this recipe states that it will make both kinds.  What?!  That's fantastic.  I could totally make puffy ones if I wanted to, and I did!

You can find this recipe on page 208 of the cookbook or online here.

Start by creaming your sugar and butter.

Then add your egg and extract.  You can use either vanilla or almond extract.  I used almond and I think it made all the difference in these cookies.  But if you're worried about allergies, you have the option to use the vanilla too.

Next you add in your dry ingredients.

Now here comes the coolest part!!  I don't know if you guys have seen this done before, but I thought it was freakin' brilliant!  Instead of letting the entire bowl of bowl chill for an hour or so, they have you roll the dough out between 2 pieces of parchment paper first. 

Why is this brilliant?

1.  It makes it so the dough only has to chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
2.  You don't have to scrub flour/dough off your counter after doing the cookies.
3.  The dough doesn't ever stick to your rolling pin.

Has anyone ever tried this before?!  I'll never do it the other way again.  This was just too easy.

When the dough comes out of the fridge, you just peel back the top sheet and start cutting out your shapes.

I was taking these cookies to a friend's house to watch the BYU vs. Utah State football game.  She's a HUGE Utah State fan, so I thought my BYU cookies were a perfect dessert to share.  I'm thoughtful that way.

Then you're ready to bake.  These cookies do puff up a little, so you need to give them some room on the cookie sheet to do that (not as much as I did though).

They were ready in 9 minutes.

And it wasn't until right now, while I'm blogging this, that I realized that I never took a picture of the final, frosted cookie.  Oops.  I was in a hurry to get to my friend's house and must have forgotten.

Well, even the Aggie fans gobbled these up.  They may or may not have broke them up into several pieces first though.  One particulary loyal teenager, crushed her cookie up in a bowl (symbollic of crushing the cougars...which they did not do after all) and ate the cookie with a fork.  Guess it all goes down the same, right? 

Will I switch my recipe?  Hmm, the jury is still out on that one.  My recipe does puff up a little more, but it also requires me to have sour cream on hand.  So I typically have to plan ahead when I make my recipe, but I would have all these ingredients regularly.  I guess time will tell, but they are tasty enough to make them again, for sure!