Our Favorite Cookie Recipe

One of my family’s favorite Christmas traditions is cookie baking. We look forward to it every year. The kitchen transforms into a cookie assembly line, with the most delicious smells and a dusting of flour seemingly everywhere.

Each year, we try out a couple of new recipes, but no matter what we always have one tried and true that we never deviate from. That’s my Sugar Cookie recipe.

This has been a staple in my kitchen for nearly a decade and it never disappoints. Sugar cookie dough can sometimes be finicky - too sticky, too crumbly, a cookie that comes out of the oven hard and burned. But not this recipe. It yields the most perfect, buttery, soft and delicious sugar cookie every time. So consider this my Christmas gift to you!

Grab your favorite holiday-themed cookie cutters and your icing (sorry friends, you’ll have to search elsewhere for the perfect icing recipe) and get baking.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

  • 3/4 cup sugar

  • 1 egg

  • 1/4 tbsp vanilla extract

  • 1/4 tbsp butter extract (don’t skip this!)

  • 1 3/4 cup flour

  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp salt

Depending on the size of your cookie cutters, this will make about 1-2 dozen cookies.

Directions:

  1. Cream together the sugar and butter until it is incorporated well and light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs and the extracts.

  2. Add the dry ingredients one at a time and mix until well incorporated.

  3. Your dough will need to chill in the fridge for several hours (ideally at least 3 but up to overnight) before baking. So make sure to account for this step in your timing. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

  4. When it’s ready, roll the dough out on a floured surface (I always flour my rolling pin too to keep it from sticking) and cut using your holiday cookie cutters. Don’t roll the dough out too thin.

  5. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. You’ll want to keep a close eye on them and not let them get brown on the edges. Take cookies out when they are still pale and allow to sit - they will firm up a bit more and be the perfect soft and chewy sugar cookie.

  6. After cookies have cooled, decorate with your favorite frosting, icing, or sprinkles. Don’t forget to leave some out for Santa on Christmas Eve!

Kelly Rutan