Danish Sugar Cookie Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and egg, and beat to combine. Gradually add flour, and beat until well incorporated. Transfer dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 7/16-inch star tip (such as Ateco #825).
• Pipe 2 1/2-inch rings onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating halfway through, until lightly golden around edges but still light on top, about 20 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; let cool completely.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C), with racks in the upper and lower third. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk flour, sugar, and baking soda together in a large bowl. Set aside.
• Beat butter using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes. Gradually add flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just combined, about 2 minutes. Divide dough into quarters.
• Working with one quarter at a time, roll dough between 2 large sheets of parchment until 1/8-inch thick. Chill between the parchment on a baking sheet until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Cut out enough cookies to fill the 2 baking sheets with 2-by-1 1/2-inch rectangles or your desired shapes. Arrange 1 inch apart on the sheets. Brush tops of cookies with some of the egg and sprinkle evenly with a portion of turbinado sugar. Keep unused dough in the fridge.
• Bake cookies, 2 sheets at a time, until pale golden, 14 to 15 minutes, rotating pans after 7 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets for about 5 minutes, then carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely before dipping. Cut, brush, and bake the remaining cookie dough in the meantime.
• Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30-second intervals until melted and smooth, about 1 1/2 minutes. Either dip cookies halfway in chocolate mixture and let excess drip off, or use a fork and drizzle chocolate Jackson Pollack-style over cookies over a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle salt over chocolate. Let rest until chocolate sets, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in the milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and egg.
• Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour and salt until just combined. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe 2-inch circles spaced 2 inches apart onto two ungreased baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Bake until the cookies are just set and the bottoms are slightly golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Steps:

• Sift the flour and white sugar together in a mixing bowl, and stir in 1 egg and the vanilla extract until well combined. Using a pastry cutter, cut the cold butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Divide the dough in half, and roll into two 11-inch-long logs. Wrap one of the logs in waxed paper and then plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Place 3 tablespoons of coarse sugar crystals on a flat plate. Brush the second log with beaten egg, and roll it in the sugar crystals, coating it thickly. Carefully wrap the sugared log in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. (See Cook's Note.)
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cut the unsugared log of dough into round slices about 1/8-inch thick, and place the rounds onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1/2-inch apart. Top each round with a pecan half. Cut the sugared log of dough into 1/8-inch thick slices, and place them onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle each sugared cookie with more coarse sugar crystals, if desired.
• Place one baking sheet of cookies at a time into the preheated oven, and bake until the edges barely turn golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the cookies to wire racks to cool.