Sugar Cookie Recipe

This cookie is a holiday-time tradition, but great all year long. And, it's actually more American than apple pie. (Ahem ~ The earliest recorded apple pie recipe appeared in an English cookbook in 1381!)

The sugar cookie as we know it is genuinely American, created in the 1700s by Moravian settlers in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, who baked simple “Nazareth Sugar Cookies” from flour, sugar, butter, and eggs and shaped them with cutters. While older European cookies, like German Springerle, English jumbles, and Dutch koekjes, influenced the idea of a sweet, sturdy biscuit, the rolled, cut-out, light sugar cookie is a uniquely American development.

If you try this recipe, please send me a picture! I love all the shapes of sugar cookies!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegan butter, slightly softened (Earth Balance Sticks work best)

3/4 cup granulated sugar (I use pure cane sugar)

2 Tablespoons unsweetened soy or oat milk (avoid coconut or almond milk, they aren't great here)

2 Tablespoons arrowroot starch powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond or lemon extract (optional, but good)

2-2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

optional - if you use lemon extract, add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

optional - if you use the almond extract, add a pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions:

In a large bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the vegan butter for about 1 minute until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and light.  Add in the milk, arrowroot, extracts (and zest/nutmeg, if using). Beat on high until fully combined, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add 1 cup of the flour to the wet mixture. Sprinkle the baking powder and salt on top of the flour. Mix on low speed, until just combined. Now add 1 more cup of the flour and continue to mix on low until just combined; don’t over mix. It will look crumbly in the bowl. If it seems too wet for rolling, add another 1/4 cup of flour. The dough should be thick, but not dry.  I always use the full 2 1/4 cups of flour. If the dough is too wet, your cookies will spread.

Using a spatula, scoop all of the dough out of the bowl; use your hands if needed to push it all together. Divide the dough in half and roll into two balls.

Cover a flat surface with a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle a little flour on it, then add half the dough. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough, and roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness (I don't have a rolling pin, so I use a Ball jar!). Repeat for the second ball of dough, and then wrap them in parchment paper. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight. Do NOT skip the chilling step, this dough must be cold when it goes in the oven!

Once the dough has chilled, set it on the counter for 10 minutes while the oven is preheating to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter and place them on the prepared baking sheets. Continue re-rolling the dough until it is all used. Don't have cookie cutters? Use the opening of your Ball jar to make round cookies.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, in the middle rack of the oven, until very lightly colored on top and around the edges. They will appear underdone, but they will firm up considerably as they cool. Let them cool for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely before frosting, if desired.