Ultra Soft Sugar Cookies

I came across this recipe on a blog.

Hostess With the Mostess

It seemed so simple and sounded so delicious.  I've attempted making soft sugar cookie before and have not found a successful one yet....until this one.  And when I say "soft" I mean ultra deliciously soft.  Fragile, almost.  They do become a bit sturdier if you bake them longer but then you sacrific the super soft texture.  I just used a simple buttercream icing to top them with and I made the icing fairly thin so it would easy to spread on such delicate cookies.  It developed a little bit of a crust after sitting (which I love!) but I made it thin enough that even after sitting for a few hours, I still couldn't stack them without smooshing the icing.

The only 2 changes I made to this recipe were to add a splash of almond extract along with the vanilla & I baked mine at 375 instead of the 400 the recipe suggests.  Oh, and I didn't flatten the balls of dough before I placed them in the oven. I used my cookie scoop so all the cookie balls were uniform in size. The dough scooped easily.  I didn't chill it at all before hand.  It was pretty warm in my kitchen so the dough was not stiff at all.  I can't imagine it would be easy to roll out at all. I would definitely chill it before I attempted something like that.

I've shared how soft the cookies were but I need to mention they were not dry at all. I'm sure that's due to the slight underbaking of them.  They weren't moist either but just kind of soft & cakey.  The flavor was just right. I can imagine that adding a vanilla bean would be awesome!  Or even other extracts - like maybe lemon or coconut.

I highly recommend this recipe if you are into soft cookies.  If you are shipping them then it would not be a good recipe. They are indeed fragile and can't be handled too much.  But they are sweet and pretty and just plain scrumptious!

Enjoy!

THE BEST FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES*

Hostess with the Mostess blog


Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt.



Directions

Preheat oven to 400º.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl & set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until mixed well. Add the dry ingredients in slowly & mix well. Chill for at least an hour to stiffen the dough. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin & cut shapes with cookie cutters OR form dough balls and flatten into thick circles with your hands..

Bake 8-10 mins or until just the edges of cookies start to turn a very, very light golden brown. Don’t over-bake. For an extra-doughy consistency, remove the cookies before the edges start to brown..



*****.