Old Fashioned Soft Sugar Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
• Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a second large bowl and mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture 1 cup at a time. Chill the dough for 3 to 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Roll out the dough and cut it into shapes with cookie cutters or a knife. Place the shapes on the prepared cookie sheet. If decorating with colored sugar, brush the cookies with milk and sprinkle with colored sugar (if using royal icing, leave unfinished). Bake until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.
• Remove the cookies to a rack to cool completely. If using royal icing, decorate the cookies as desired.
• Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl. Mix slowly with an electric mixer until stiff enough to form peaks; the icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly. If the frosting is over-beaten, it will get aerated which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the frosting sit to settle, and then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth out the frosting.
• Add up to 1 tablespoon food coloring and mix with a rubber spatula until the color is uniform. Gels are best with royal icing. You don't want to thin them with liquid colors. Be careful of adding too much color, which reduces the sheen of the frosting and can break down the consistency of the frosting over a couple of days. Store the icing at room temperature, covered, with plastic wrap on the surface.
• Yield: 3 1/2 cups icing

Steps:

• Cream together the shortening and the sugar. Stir in the egg, buttermilk and vanilla.
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir to combine. Chill dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. If desired sprinkle tops of cookies with white sugar before baking.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
• Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 7 to 9 minutes or until set.

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
• Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs and then the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until completely incorporated. Scoop out heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough, roll with your hands into balls and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Put some sugar in a small bowl. Roll the chilled dough balls in the sugar and arrange on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
• Bake until the bottoms and edges are just barely golden and the tops are no longer glossy, 14 to 16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets about halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• In a big bowl, combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest, salt and vanilla and mix until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the baking powder, taking care to mix well. Add the eggs and egg yolk and stir well. Add the flours and gently stir until a smooth ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet (or sheets) with parchment paper (no cooking spray).
• On a floured surface, roll out tennis ball-size pieces of dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shapes you want. Lay them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1/4 inch between each cookie.
• Bake for 8 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack, then decorate them however you like with Royal Icing and your favorite sprinkles.
• Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, whip most of the powdered sugar with most of the other ingredients. Whip for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the royal icing holds its shape and is bright white (not translucent). If it is too soft, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add a bit more liquid, drop by drop. If you are using only one color, add a few drops of the color at this point and keep whipping until you have the shade you want; otherwise, proceed to the next step.
• To store royal icing, the ideal way is to scrape it out of the bowl and into a plastic, disposable piping bag, then leave it at room temperature. Don't cut the bag until you're ready to use the royal icing, and don't overfill the bag--you want enough room to tie the back of the bag off to keep the royal icing airtight. If any air comes into contact with the royal icing, it gets hard and that part of the icing is useless. Never attempt to mix the hard bits back into the royal icing--you'll ruin the whole batch. The other accepted method of storing royal icing is to scrape it into a plastic or ceramic bowl, and cover it with a wet paper towel. This method works, but it wastes both paper towels and royal icing. It's also just annoying. When you're piping small designs, you want to use very small parchment piping bags. It's easy to stick the nose of a large piping bag into a smaller one and extract exactly how much you'll need. When the icing is in a bowl, you have to use a spoon to get it out. The spoon is difficult to get into a piping bag, and you'll keep using spoons and wasting royal icing. Get with the times people. Do it right and don't waste food.

Steps:

• Cookies:.
• Beat butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Beat until well mixed, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Cover & refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or until dough is easy to handle.
• Preheat oven to 375°F Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar. Place balls about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 5-10 minutes depending on how you like them. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Frosting:.
• Beat the butter, add sifted sugar & mix well. Add the vanilla, enough milk to reach the consistency you want & the tint to desired colour.
• Spread the frosting over the cookies using a pallet knife. Allow to sit for a few minutes then add sprinkles. Don't use the sprinkles right after frosting or they will absorb moisture & leach their colour!
• Glaze:.
• Stir confectioners' sugar, milk and extract in small bowl until smooth. Stir in corn syrup until glaze is smooth and glossy. (If glaze is too thick, stir in small amount of additional corn syrup.)
• Stir in 3 to 4 drops food color until evenly distributed and glaze is smooth. Add additional drops of food color until glaze is of desired color.
• To glaze cookies, place cooling rack on foil-lined baking sheet. Holding a cookie by its edge, dip the top of cookie into glaze. (Or spoon the glaze onto cookies using a teaspoon. Cookies can also be glazed using a new small paintbrush.) Place glazed cookies on cooling rack to dry. (The foil-covered baking sheet will catch any drips.)
• Use contrasting glaze colors to decorate glazed cookies, if desired. Place small amount of contrasting glaze in small resealable plastic bag. Snip off tiny piece of the corner of the plastic bag. Create design by squeezing contrasting glaze onto cookies. Allow glazed cookies to dry thoroughly before stacking.
• If you would like more than one color of glaze, divide untinted glaze among separate small bowls. Tint each one a different color by stirring in 1 to 2 drops food color until evenly distributed and glaze is smooth. Add additional drops food color until glaze is of desired color. (.
• If cookie is decorated with contrasting glaze before glazed cookie is allowed to dry, glaze colors will blend slightly, creating a softer, more muted design).
• Allow glaze to dry before storing cookies in airtight containers.
• Note: Use glaze soon after preparing. Do not refrigerate glaze, as it will begin to harden.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in extracts and eggs, one at a time. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; gradually beat into creamed mixture. , Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets; flatten slightly with bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake until edges begin to brown, 8-10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire racks; cool completely., For frosting, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, extract and enough water to reach desired consistency. If desired, tint with food coloring. Spread over cookies.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and mace. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or rub between your fingers. When butter pieces are no larger than pea size, stir in the egg, vanilla and heavy cream. Blend thoroughly. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 5 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges begin to brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.
• To make the frosting: In a medium bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream and salt until smooth and creamy. Spread on top of cooled cookies. Let the frosting dry before storing or serving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to creamed mixture., Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• Combine baking soda, cream of tartar and flour mixing well. With your hands, knead in softened butter.
• In a small bowl, beat eggs and mix well with sugar and vanilla.
• Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and again using your hands, mix this really well.
• Chill dough. It will be quite hard when it is completely chilled. Using a table knife, cut off chunks to roll out on a well-flour surface to desired thickness - thin cookies will get crispy when baked, thicker cookies will puff and stay soft. Cut into desired shapes.
• Bake in a 350 degree oven until the edges begin to brown; be careful not to overcook if you want them to stay soft after cooling!
• After completely cooled, decorate the cookies. These will freeze really well!

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cream together shortening, sugar and brown sugar.
• Mix in egg.
• Mix in buttermilk and vanilla.
• Combine the dry ingredients.
• Stir dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.
• Chill dough for 1 hour.
• Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons 2" apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
• Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of cookie dough.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes or until set.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425°; lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
• In a bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and salt.
• When smooth, beat in the egg.
• Add the flour and raisins, stirring until well combined.
• Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto prepared baking sheets.
• Using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, flatted the dough to a scant 1/2 inch thick.
• Bake the cookies for 9 minutes, until they are barely set and just starting to brown around the edges.
• Remove them from the oven, let them rest on the pan until you can move them without them breaking, then transfer to a rack to cool.
• *For crisp cookies, bake in a 350° preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are starting to brown around the edges.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease two cookie sheets or line them with Silpat.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla and egg.
• Mix, scrape it down the sides of the bowl, and mix it again.
• Add the sour cream and mix it until it is combined.
• Add the flour mixture and mix it until it is combined.
• Drop the cookies onto the prepared cookie sheets 3 inches apart (they do spread).
• Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until they are light brown.
• Cool them on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, and remove them to wire cooling racks to cool completely.