Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

Day 6! Cookie Week is almost over friends. We’re keeping it traditional today with my Grandma’s Sugar Cookies. I have a lot of memories of making these over the years, especially during fall and Christmas season. We’d start with leaves and pumpkins in October and November and move into Christmas trees, candy canes and snowmen in December. Mom would make the dough and let us cut out our favorite shapes. Once the cookies were done baking there was the interminable wait for them to be cool enough to ice.

Then she would make a big batch of icing and separate it into a couple small bowls and we would fight over what colors they should be. Actually it was a pretty simple choice. Orange, red, and yellow for fall and red, green, and white for Christmas. When we were young mom (and sometimes Dad) would ice the cookies. We got the fun job – sprinkles! An impressive array of colored sugars and shapes were ours for the taking. We methodically sprinkled green stems and orange pumpkins, Christmas trees with strategically placed lights and decorations, and bells in fanciful colors.

It was the best of traditions and today we’re bringing it back! These are my Grandma’s Sugar Cookies. Soft and buttery with just the right amount of vanilla, they are the perfect base. I’m sure I will experiment with other recipes in the future but we’re starting with the tried and true. These do puff up when you bake them. Not enough to lose their shape but they do get bigger. This time I was experimenting with our icing so I thinned it down and we piped it on like royal icing. I tried making royal icing but I just couldn’t get past the taste so we compromised.

This batch is a simpler one than normal. I piped a white outline on each cookie and then filled it in. I actually like that all the icing is plain white so the colored sprinkles can really shine. Whichever way you choose to go, have fun with it! The kids and I are hoping to have some friends over during the holidays for a cookie decorating party. I’d love to line up all those fun sprinkles and let a new generation have their fun with them! What is your favorite method of decorating for sugar cookies?

Well, tomorrow is our last recipe. We’ll be wrapping up with Sweet and Spicy Gingerdoodles.

Thanks for pinning and sharing!

-Erin

Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

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• Author: The Teatime Baker
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 60 minutes + chilling & decorating
• Yield: 2–3 dozen 1x
• Category: Cookies

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Description

Soft, sweet and buttery, Grandma’s Sugar Cookies are beautiful and delicious. Great for decorating with kids or holiday cookie parties!

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Ingredients

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Cookies:

• 1 cup (230 g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (115 g) powdered sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2–1/2 cup (335 g) white flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Icing:

• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter
• 3 cups (350 g) powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• milk

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Instructions

Cookies:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat together the butter and sugar.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
4. Chill for 1-24 hours.

Baking:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. If the dough has been in the fridge a long time you may need to let it rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes before rolling it out. Roll out the cookie dough on a lightly floured surface. I like to use wax paper on top to keep the dough from sticking. Roll out to 1/4″ (1/2 cm) thick or a little thinner as evenly as you can.
3. Cut out cookies in your desired shapes and put them on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake until the edges of the cookies just start to lightly brown (about 10 minutes).
5. Cool on wire racks.

Icing:

1. Beat together sugar, butter and vanilla. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Keep it thick for spreading with a knife or thin it down to pipe it onto the cookies.
2. Separate into bowls and add colors if desired.
3. Ice the cookies and decorate with sprinkles!

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Notes

The number of cookies you get from this recipe will depend on the size of your cookie cutters. I made about three dozen cookies with the cutters shown

Keywords: sugar cookie recipe, cutout cookies, grandma’s sugar cookies, iced cutout cookies