There is nothing like a good sugar cookie! Once you stick those pretty cutout cookie shapes that are laying so perfectly on a parchment-covered baking sheet into your oven, it will make your house smell like it is filled with love and welcome you in with open arms. A sugar cookie isn’t just a cookie. It has the power to do many, many amazing things and we are going to dive headfirst into that very soon. But for today, we are going to talk about this sugar cookie recipe.
Before we get started, I want to tell you if you already have a sugar cookie recipe that you like and produces cookies that don’t spread when they are baked, keep it. Don’t ditch what works for you just because there is something new on my blog. Remember, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Keep your recipe.
If you are looking for a good sugar cookie recipe this one might just be what you are looking for. I’ve been playing around with ingredients for a while now looking for a new recipe that doesn’t spread when it’s baked and still has that delicious sugar cookie flavor we all know and love. This is what I came up with and I am really happy with the results.
Are you ready to see why I love those cheap mats from Wal-Mart? Here you go!
All good sugar cookie recipes begin with butter. Most call for unsalted butter at room temperature. Now you might be asking me why recipes call for unsalted butter and that’s a really good question. If you purchase salted butter, how do you know how much salt is in the butter? The answer is, you don’t. Different companies use different amounts of salt when they add it to butter. If your recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and your butter already has 1/2 tsp of salt, guess what, you have just doubled the amount of salt and the flavor of your cookies is going to change.
When you add the salt and unsalted butter to your recipe you have complete control over the amount of salt that is added, thus ensuring a good cookie with a good flavor. Here’s more information on Salted or Unsalted Butter for you.
Here is a little information on The Right Way to Soften Butter making sure your butter is at the right temperature when you make your sugar cookie dough is very important to the cookies holding their shape and not spreading while baking.
If you’re interested here’s some information on How to Soften Butter Quickly so you can start baking your cookies faster without watching the butter sit on the counter for an hour doing it on its own.
Once I started weighing my flour, my cookies have become more consistent in flavor and it helps get that perfect shape we are looking for.
If you have a cutter with a really small area, you might want to let the dough warm up a bit. Popping almost frozen dough out of a cookie cutter can cause the dough to break even if you add flour to the cutter. What good is a good sugar cookie recipe if you break the cookies before you bake them? If you let it warm up a bit, they will pop right out of the cutter and you will have beautiful cookies.
The reason I freeze the dough for 10-15 minutes is that freezing it will allow me to be a little rougher when taking it out of the cutter. When I remove it from the cutter, it keeps its shape. If I don’t freeze the dough, well, you see that little sad snowflake cookie in the picture. Poor thing!
I’ve said it once and I will say it again, I am a tomboy. I’m a bit rough with things. I need something that will allow me to push the cookies out of the cutter and freezing it for a few minutes before cutting the shapes works for me. It might not work for you. One recipe or one way of doing things isn’t for everyone. You have to play around and find something that makes you happy! This sugar cookie recipe and freezing the dough a bit makes me happy. I hope you find something that works this well for yourself. 😉
I hope you are enjoying ‘The Bearfoot Basics” because I have a lot more planned for you! Stay tuned!
If you would like to have a sugar cookie recipe chalkboard printable then click the link. Hang it on the fridge and it will save you some time looking up the recipe every time you bake.
Sugar Cookie Recipe:
Bear hugs,