Best-Ever Christmas Sugar Cookies

For as long as I can remember my mother baked sugar cookies for Christmas. As she has become advanced in age she is really not up to making them anymore. So a few years ago I surprised her with making them. I have never tasted a sugar cookie recipe that I think beats hers. I don’t where where she got the recipe, I just know they are delicious - buttery, a little sweet, thin and crisp. I make a batch and we split it. Yes, we eat the entire batch ourselves. Guilty pleasure. They are relatively easy to make, but they do take a while. I devote a few hours to making them and they are so worth every minute.

Tools: baking sheets, rolling pin, hand or stand mixer, basting brush, 

parchment paper, cookie cutters

Time: About 2-1/2 hours if you use 2 sheet pans or 3-1/2 if you use 1.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies.

          INGREDIENTS

• 2 sticks unsalted softened butter. Use butter, not margarine! 
• 1-1/2 cups sugar 
• 2 eggs, beaten 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg 
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar 
• 1 teaspoon salt 

          FOR DECORATION

• Egg white from 1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of water 
• Sprinkles - colored sugar crystals for decorating or just regular sugar 

          

          DIRECTIONS

1. Set out the butter to soften. Once it is soft place it in a medium size mixing bowl and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and “cream” the mixture until light and fluffy.
2. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla and mix well. 
3. Add all of the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg and salt to a bowl and mix together with a fork or wisk. Don’t omit the nutmeg. It makes them extra good. 
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend with the mixer until it looks like coarse sand. It will only take a minute or so. Form it into a disk about 2 inches thick, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour so the dough becomes firm. You can refrigerate it longer but it will become very firm and hard to roll out. In that case cut off the portion you will use first and let it sit out for about 5 minutes. 
When you are ready to begin baking …
5. Prepare 2 baking sheets if you have 2, but if you only have 1 that’s OK - it will just take longer. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or use a Silpat baking mat. 
6. Set oven to 350 degrees F. 
7. Prepare a surface for rolling out the cookies: dust a clean surface with some flour and have flour for adding to the surface and rolling pin as needed. 
8. You want to use only enough dough to make a sheet pan of cookies. Keep the remainder of the dough refrigerated. It should not be at room temperature when you begin rolling out the dough or it will be too soft to work with. Take 1/4 of the dough and roll it to 1/4 inch thick. The dough may seem stiff at first but it will soften quickly. Dip a cookie cutter in flour and cut out your shapes. Place them on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with a little of the sugar. Form leftover dough from the roll-out into a ball and roll it out for a few more cookies. If your baking sheet is full just refrigerate the leftover dough for the next batch. 
9. Bake for 7 minutes on the center racks of the oven then rotate the sheets front to back and top to bottom and bake for 7 more minutes. They should be slightly dry and brownish brown just on the edges. Every oven is different so the amount of time in your oven may vary. Also, variations is thickness of your dough will effect the time. Check at 12 minutes. Lift up a cookie. If the bottom is light golden brown they are done. They will harden when they cool. Adjust time if you need to after the first batch. An extra minute can mean a burnt cookie! NOTE: dark coated and non-stick sheet pans cook hotter than the regular type of cookie sheet and take less time to cook. Do your first batch at 6 minutes then rotate if using these types of pans and check in 6 minutes for doneness.
10. Place the baked cookies on paper towel and let them completely cool. 
11. Start your next batch, but be sure the baking sheet has cooled down. Don’t use a hot baking sheet or it will cause the bottoms to over brown and the tops will not be done. If you have 2 baking sheets you can alternate them so they are cool when you begin baking. 
12. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks … but they won’t last that long!

Click to download recipes.

...............................................................