THE Best Sugar Cookies

It's the most wonderful time of the year... 

time for Holiday Baking. 

I'm pretty sure this book was originally lime green. It's been well loved and used!

In our house, our baking always begins with a big batch of Sugar Cookies. I use a recipe from the Martha Stewart Cookbook Collected Recipes for Everyday, circa 1995, page 531 called Sugar Cookies II. Over the years, I've tried every recipe on pages 530-536. Sugar Cookies II is consistently the best, easy to throw together & easy to roll out; this sort of makes or breaks a sugar cookie recipe for me. I don't have the patience for finicky dough which makes me a much better cook than baker. 

This year, I'm working my way through a collection of Culinary Institute of America books from the library. I feel that reading these is helping me become a better cook, understanding the "why" behind what I've learned to do by instinct. So, I recently checked out the CIA COOKIES Book thinking it would teach me something. 

Last night was baking night. I started the dough, not my favorite, beautiful Martha dough, but the CIA sugar cookie recipe. Big mistake. Sad. The night ended in tears, not mine but those of my children. The dough was terrible. It didn't hold together and crumbled everywhere. I went thru the recipe three times and followed it perfectly, creating bland, crumbly, ick dough. Thus, the children had no dough to roll out and no cookies to decorate. "I've been looking forward to this all day and it was going to be the best way to end our weekend, decorating cookies. And, now we just have to go to bed," said one child as they grumbled up the stairs. Boo CIA sugar cookie recipe. 

To make amends, I promised that we'd do cookies tonight. The kids made me swear to use our regular recipe, no messing around with the fancy one. And, guess what... the dough was gorgeous. I LOVE this recipe and will never, ever cheat on it again. 

Sugar Cookies II

pg. 531 The Martha Stewart Cookbook (1995)
Makes about 40 3-inch Cookies

ingredients

4 1/2 cups sifted flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

instructions

Preheat the oven to 375. Butter baking sheets (or just use parchment like me). Sift together the dry ingredients.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. I toss the butter & sugar into my standing mixer and turn it onto medium while I measure and sift the dry ingredients. I'm convinced that this long mixing is what makes these cookies perfect. Add the eggs and beat well. I add them one at a time, mix well, and scrape down the sides after each addition. Add the dry ingredients, 1 cup at a time, alternating with the milk & vanilla, beating well after each addition. I'm not a good rule follower and never measure the vanilla... I probably use at least 2 tsp and toss it in the measuring cup with the milk. Wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour. Or toss it in a zip lock bag. 

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll 1 piece at a time on a floured board and cut with large cookie cutters. This is the first time I've ever read the part about the board! I just toss flour out onto my clean kitchen counter and roll away. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes... watch closely, you don't want them to brown. Cool on racks. Or slide the parchment paper sheet off the hot baking sheet and onto the counter so they quit cooking. 

Top with Royal Icing.

Royal Icing

pg. 534 The Martha Stewart Cookbook (1995)
Makes about 3/4 Cup, enough for 15-18 cookies. Martha says she makes it in small batches and color each batch with Ateco paste dyes (liquid dyes work well also.)


I've only ever used the cheapo squeeze bottles of dye that's cheap & easy to find at my grocery store. But, we do follow her advice on the small batches. 

ingredients

1 cup confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
1 egg white (I bring it to room temperature)
3-4 drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Food Coloring


instructions
Mix the sugar, egg white, & lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. It should have the consistency of heavy cream (you may need to add a bit more sugar). Add desired food coloring.
NOTE: If you are concerned about egg safety, substitute dried egg whites.

So, tonight's the first time I've read this recipe in about three years. I know it by heart and we don't measure, even the kids know it. We put the egg white into a glass bowl and mix it a few times. Then, start adding the powdered sugar. You can control the consistency by how much sugar you add, depending on your decorating style. Mix and mix until the sugar is all incorporated then squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice and mix again. Check the consistency. Add more sugar if you want it thicker. And if it's too thick, add another egg white & more sugar, adjust accordingly. When you're done playing in the frosting, divide it up into a few glass dishes and start adding color. I'm not a worrier so I've never considered substituting dried egg whites. 


The perfect thing about Royal Icing is that it dries hard just like the big pink cookies at Nordstrom. So, if you are so inclined, you can go back and add more decorations, like colorful little dots for "Christmas Ornaments" on the Christmas Tree cookies. And, you can stack 'em and not mess 'em up. They can easily be slid into baggies for lunchtime treats. If you want to "properly" ice the cookies, you could pipe the edge, then flood the cookie with the icing. We've never done that. It sounds fancy but time consuming. Remember, we have short attentions spans around here! 


These really are THE Best Sugar Cookies. Make them!

Here's what we did tonight. Tomorrow we have 3 dozen more to decorate. 

The kids named this image "Happy Quackmas"

Yes, we love our Ducks!