These are the best sugar cookies you will ever have. Seriously.
The cookie itself is soft and almost biscuit-like while the glaze icing gives it just the right amount of sweetness. Perfection.
I can say this with humility, of course, because the recipe is not mine! My friend Anne, who is the BEST baker I know, recently gave me this recipe. She made some sugar cookies for a baby shower I hosted a couple months ago. After tasting one of the leftover cookies, Prince Charming said, “This cookie tastes like the essence of childhood. You HAVE to get this recipe.”
Anne was gracious enough to share the recipe with me, though I am unsure of its original origin (I forgot to ask her and now she is in the hospital after just having her precious little girl on Tuesday…so if you know, please tell me so that I can cite the proper source).
I’ll be honest…until now, I didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about in regards to sugar cookies. They seemed like A LOT of work to me and not really worth the effort. Let’s just say I stand corrected.
World’s Best Sugar Cookies (according to Jenae)
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream (trust me…you won’t be sorry!)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice (I used the bottled kind, that I just bought. That’s “fresh”, right?)
5 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Mix in sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Chill dough (at least 1 hour, we “chilled” overnight)
5. Roll 1/8 thick on a floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. MAKE SURE you roll them out thin enough. They will puff up a little during baking, so they need to be really thin when rolled out.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.
*I would highly recommend freezing half of the dough as it makes A TON!
Toba’s Glaze (aka icing)
1 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. milk
2 tsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used almond extract–I couldn’t find our vanilla anywhere…Little Brother loves getting in my spice rack and carrying the vanilla bottle around the house with him.)
Mix together and spread on cookies. This is a GREAT icing to use with little ones because it smooths out even after its been spread on the cookie (no matter how harsh your little one was spreading it on there).
Here are a few pictures of our cookie-making process…
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Such a big helper! It’s times like this I wish I had one of these (especially since it is half-off!!!) |
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| There it is! Just yesterday….my bottle of homemade vanilla (once you try this stuff, you’ll never want the store-bought vanilla again)! |
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| What fun is making cookies without licking the beaters afterwards??? I guess getting salmonella wouldn’t be very fun…but surely a teeny-tiny bit won’t hurt, right??? |
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| We used a baby spoon to spread the icing. My friend Sarah uses paintbrushes…which is a wonderful idea. All of my paint brushes have been painted with and I didn’t know if it was safe to use a “used” paintbrush to spread the icing. |
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And this is a little less than HALF the batch-Christmas trees, bells, snowmen, and boy and girl gingerbread babies. Yes, babies. Big Brother is obsessed with Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We read it AT LEAST once a day. |
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| We took a plate of cookies to our local firestation as part of our 12 Days of Christmas Giving. |
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| Checking out the ambulance at the firestation…notice the plate of cookies in the fireman’s hand. :) |
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| Mr. Talkative at the firestation |
Now…go make some sugar cookies. Just be sure to save some for everybody else. ;)
Thanks for sharing! With 5 kids I needed a recipe that made a lot so everyone could do their share of cutting and decorating. This sounds wonderfully easy and delicious!
Love this, been looking for a really good recipe for sugar cookies. Thanks for sharing.
I'll have to try this recipe! I've made some with sour cream before but the lemon juice is new. I like your thinking about the "fresh" part. :) And I hope you get a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas!! They're a must-have!
I'm not sure about the cookie recipe origin, but I got a frosting recipe that is identical (and I use almond extract too – so good!) off of allrecipes.com. I especially like it because you can dip your cookie let as much drip off as you can, put it on a cooling rack, let the the rest drip off and then when you're done you have pretty shiny cookies that can be stacked up! It is a great glaze!
My recipe calls for sour cream too! It truly is the best!!!
I love sugar cookies. I make that same glaze, without the corn syrup and vanilla extract. It is very good.
And thanks for visiting your local fire company and bringing them some treats. My husband is an EMT and they don't get enough thanks for all that they do! They appreciate it when anyone stops by, even just to say thank you for all you do.
Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to try this.
I just have to say we had to take a break from our cookie making this Christmas because, as always, we tasted the yummy cookie dough while making our very first batch (different recipe) and this time all 3 that tasted it ended up sick! Only the littlest, who we didn't let taste, stayed well…BUT I'm sure I'll be tasting again – it's tradition, right?!
I tried the recipe and they were so dense! More like bread than a cookie. Any idea what I did wrong? I (think) I followed the recipe to a T and I'm a decent baker :)
Icing was perfect, though!
Thanks!
They have to be super THIN when making. :D I got the same thing on the ones that were cut thick
Angela…I'm not sure! Mine didn't turn out that way at all. They almost fell apart when you bit into them. Hmmm…
Did you chill the dough before rolling it out? Maybe too much flour?
I'm not sure! I'm sorry they were dissapointing!
Ok, Angela…I think I know your problem. The dough has to be rolled out REALLY thin because it puffs up during baking.
I think that's probably the issue. :)
I already tried these cookies. And its taste really good. It becomes my children’s favorite cookies. Thanks for your recipe.
Hi I am Just about to add the flour but it doesn't say plain or selfraising – which is it? Help Hope you are out there because in a couple of minutes I will go with plain… Thanks J
Plain. All-purpose. :)
thanks… So nice of you to reply- I went the other way – RATS!!! but forgot the baking soda so that might have helped :P they turned out OK … really yummy and I turned some into pillow cookies by putting 1/3 of a mini mars bar in the centre- super yum.Love your web site! Got here via your comment of Made By Joel. thanks again- Julie
Awwww. Thanks for sharing.. I felt festive just reading this. :D
This is the recipe I have been using for years, it truly is the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever tried, The worst part about sugar cookies is rolling them out, and these are so easy. I’ve made many batches of these over the years, and they never last very long!
I did make these and they were great. MUST be thin though or they will bake like a cake… very fluffy. This is a great recipe if you cut them very thin. :D
I’ve been looking for a good recipe, so might give this one a try! Does that glaze/icing harden? Thanks, Jenae!
Using room temp butter makes for easier creaming of the sugar and butter and helps with a fluffier less dense cookie. When you use cold butter, you tend to over mix to get it to cream and the butter starts to separate making them more like a dense bread. :)
Ours turned out perfect! This is my new favorite sugar cookie recipe. Thanks, Jenae! I’m going to make some for Taylor and send them to him at K-State!
I was able to find where you are to use plain flour but what about the butter? Is it salted or unsalted?
Thanks,