My Grandmas Old Fashioned Soft Sugar Cookies are pillowy soft and delightfully chewy without even a hint of crunch! The cookies themselves aren't overly sweet but they are begging, demanding even, to be iced!
12 Days of Christmas Cookies
This is the same Grandmother who brought us these Soft Molasses Sugar Cookies, so you know they are going to be good!
The cookies themselves have just a hint of vanilla, and they taste just like those impossibly soft cookies you buy at the store. Except they are homemade with love.
If I weren't going to ship these cookies, I would have made a sweet, fresh strawberry frosting or a spiced cream cheese frosting.
But I did ship these little snowflakes out, so I went a more traditional route with a vanilla sugar cookie frosting.
The little bit of texture and incredibly sweet frosting pairs beautifully with the soft sugar cookies. It can easily be colored for any occasion.
This was surprisingly unfussy dough. It was very easy to work with and didn't get inordinately hard in the refrigerator. It rolled out easily and didn't need to be re-refrigerated before re-rolling.
Of all three rolled Christmas cookies that I have made, these are by far the easiest!
The buttermilk keeps it extra soft and pliable. Like I said before, grandmothers know best!
This is an incredibly simple icing recipe. I usually don’t measure, but for you I did.
Don't be like me and think you're all smart, "if milk is good, heavy cream will be better."
It won't be.
Heavy cream has a...wait for it...cream color and it will tint your frosting. Duh, Lindsey.
Milk is also less viscous so you won’t need as much to make the icing pipable.
To answer the question that you didn’t ask, but I know you’re dying to know, each snowflake is unique.
My Grandmas Old Fashioned Soft Sugar Cookies are for the eleventh day of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! You won't want to miss the Festive Almond Crinkle Cookies, No Bake Gingersnap Brandy Balls, Chocolate Pecan Tassies, Molasses Sugar Cookies, Old Fashioned Gingersnaps, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Old Fashioned Oat Lace Cookies, Raspberry Linzer Cookies, Holiday Bark or Cherry Pecan Cookies!
Grandmas Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookies:
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup buttermilk
For the Sugar Cookie icing:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-5 teaspoons milk
Instructions
Make your Cookies:
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder; set aside.
- Beat eggs with fork in a large bowl then stir in sugar, butter and vanilla. Alternately add flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, stirring until well mixed.
- Refrigerate overnight. My aunt says you can do it for less time, but this is what I did.
Bake your Cookies:
- When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface roll out dough until about ¼ inch thick, dip your cookie cutter in flour and cut out shapes. I bake all the same shapes on one sheet to ensure even baking.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies have puffed and the bottoms have browned but the centers are still slightly underdone. You can tell this because the centers are slightly darker than the outsides.
- Remove immediately to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Make your icing:
- Combine sugar and vanilla in a bowl and add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until it is your desired consistency. If it gets too thin, you can add more sugar to thicken. It will also thicken as it cools.
- I wanted mine to be a bit thicker so I could pipe it. If you are going to flood your cookies with frosting, you might need a bit more milk.
- I piped the cookies in this post by cutting off a tiny corner of a small plastic, zip-top baggie. You could also use a piping bag fitted with a small round tip to the same effect! But then you have to clean it…just sayin’…
Has anyone tried using palm shortening (or other shortening) and soured dairy-free milk? I am looking for a cookie recipe for my dairy and soy allergic son.