Most Excellent Roll-Out Sugar Cookies

Why yes, I am a child of the 80's.  Why do you ask?

It dawned on me recently that we've never made roll-out sugar cookies together here on the blog.  So let's get to it!

Here are the ingredients we'll be using:

I found vanilla bean paste at The Anderson's last week.  Go figure.  I also found rose extract.  Who knew The Anderson's had hard-to-find flavorings?

Anyhoo, cream the butter and sugar until it's fluffy.

In order to save time, while the sugar and butter are getting to know each other, I get the dry ingredients ready.  Mix them all together in a medium bowl and give it a good stir with a whisk.

Add the sour cream, egg and vanilla (or vanilla bean paste in this case) to the butter and sugar.

Just dump it all in.  Mix it well.

I love the little specs of vanilla bean.

Now dump in the dry ingredients.

And stir until it's all incorporated.

Looks kind of sticky and unmanageable, doesn't it?  Fear not, looks can be deceiving.  Here is where I use my silicone spatula to pat the dough into a nice ball.  Or rectangle, whatever.

Now you have two options.  Either wrap it in plastic cling-wrap and throw it in the fridge for a day or five, or roll and bake immediately.  The cookies will spread if the dough isn't cold, so I always put my trays of cut cookies into the freezer for about five minutes before I bake them.

This is a standard as-the-recipe-is-written batch of dough.  I almost always double the batch because I have issues and for some reason I'm not happy unless I have vast quantities of cookies to dispose of.  But this makes a nice, manageable number of cookies.  It really depends on the size of the cutters you use, of course, so it's hard to say exactly how many you'll get.  Anywhere from three to five dozen, depending.

Decorate with your favorite royal icing or glaze and you've got a special treat!  Hubby prefers these naked. They're soft and not too sweet without icing.  I like to mix up the flavors, but lemon is my favorite. You can use whatever you like. Recipe adapted from here.

Soft Sugar Cookies:

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract (or flavoring of choice)
1/2 cup sour cream

- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Meanwhile, in a separate bowl mix dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

- Add egg, flavorings and sour cream to butter and sugar.  Stir until combined.

- Add dry ingredients and stir until combined.

- Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1-5 days, or immediately roll dough 1/4 inch thick and cut out cookies. Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and chill. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges.


Well, that's all for today.

Enjoy!