Umbrella Sugar Cookies

Perfectly candy sugar cookies are an irresistible cope with round the vacations (or any day if we’re being steady). Whether crisp and rapidly, mushy and chewy, or intricately adorned, there is a sugar cookie for every person. Our in vogue sugar cookie recipe is a popular in Martha’s kitchen, and for factual reason. The recipe is as uncomplicated as they diagram. The usual butter and sugar-based totally totally cookie dough is rapidly and uncomplicated to whip up—all you’ll need is a stand mixer. Once you roll out the dough, it is a ways going to be oldschool to create any whimsical shapes you care for (or preserve it traditional and decide for extra archaic circles).

Learn what makes our sugar cookie recipe so particular, and accumulate our concepts for baking and decorating these candy treats.

What Is a Sugar Cookie?

Technically, every cookie is a sugar cookie if it has…smartly, sugar. The forms of cookies that we ceaselessly tag as “sugar cookies” will be divided into two major lessons: sturdy cookies for decorating (care for this recipe) and mushy and chewy cookies (care for Snickerdoodles).

Both of all these cookies initiate in the the same manner; butter and sugar are creamed together earlier than eggs, flour, and leavening agents (care for baking soda and baking powder) are jumbled in to construct up a dough. The total texture of the sugar cookie will depend totally on the ratios of fat, sugar, and flour.

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

• Sugar: Sugar no longer most effective makes the dough candy, but it without a doubt furthermore retains the dough mushy. We in particular cherish this recipe on account of it has the accurate quantity of sugar—the dough is no longer without a doubt too mushy, so it is easy to roll without cracking round the perimeters.
• Flour: The extra flour that goes into cookie dough, the extra crumbly and crisp it is a ways going to be. Recipes for softer sugar cookies care for snickerdoodles will non-public much less flour than much less assailable adorned sugar cookies.
• Butter: Butter adds a quantity of fashion to cookies and affects the total texture. More butter will create a softer, chewier dough.
• Eggs: The necessary feature of eggs in cookie dough is construction and moisture. The proteins in the eggs bind to the starch in flour and back have the dough together.
• Leaveners: Baking powder (and once in a whereas baking soda) is added to cookie dough to back the dough upward thrust and unfold. Baking soda is no longer included in our recipe on account of it enables browning (this has to halt with the pH degree) and we desire our sugar cookies to preserve pale in coloration.

Rolling, Reducing, and Baking Sugar Cookies

Rolling:

1. Kick back the dough as a flat disk. The thinner the proportion of dough, the much less time you will exercise rolling it out later.
2. Mud a shimmering work surface with some flour, starting with a lightweight coating and adding extra if wished.
3. Let the dough leisure at room temperature for a snappy time earlier than you initiate rolling. You wish the dough to preserve chilled, but if it’s too frigid, it is a ways going to initiate to crack as you roll it out.
4. Note firm and even tension, starting from the center and working your manner out to the perimeters. Let the rolling pin halt the bulk of the work and rotate the dough a itsy-bitsy every time you roll.

Reducing:

1. If the dough has warmed up too powerful in the rolling process, pop it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate it for about 10 minutes, or till it is firm again.
2. Dip your cookie cutter into flour to preserve it from sticking to the dough as you decrease.
3. Lower out shapes as halt to one one other as you can so that you don’t non-public too many scraps.
4. Scraps will be rerolled and oldschool one extra time to diminish out extra cookies. Any scraps you non-public gotten left after this desires to be discarded, as they are going to alter into tough after too powerful rolling.

Baking:

1. Reveal up the cookies a couple of inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. The cookies will unfold much less if they gallop into the oven whereas they’re gentle a itsy-bitsy bit frigid and firm to the touch. To preserve them perfectly shaped, allow them to location up in the freezer for upright a snappy time earlier than baking.
3. Rotate the pans once as they bake. Most ovens non-public hot spots, so rotate the pans and their oven rack positions halfway via baking to create sure they are evenly cooked.

Adorning Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies will be as uncomplicated or decorative as you care for. To preserve it easy, add sprinkles, sanding sugar, or nonpareils to the cookies earlier than baking. They are going so as to add stress-free colors and crunch to the cookies, and childhood at all times cherish them.

You must per chance also furthermore toughen the cookies with icing. Royal icing is ultimate for intricate designs, but an easy confectioners’ sugar glaze adds a pleasing quantity of sweetness as smartly. Gel-based totally totally food coloring will be added to both of these decorating alternate choices.

1. Stagger together dry substances:

   In expansive bowl, shuffle flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. Cream butter and sugar:

   With an electrical mixer, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

3. Add egg and vanilla:

   Beat in egg and vanilla.

4. Add dry substances:

   With mixer on low, step by step add flour mixture; beat till mixed.

5. Kick back dough:

   Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap every half in plastic; freeze till firm, no longer decrease than 20 minutes, or save in a resealable plastic ranking, and freeze up to three months (thaw in refrigerator in a single day).

6. Roll out dough and decrease cookie shapes:

   Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Rob away one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 lumber thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as wished.

7. Lower out cookies:

   Lower shapes with cookie cutters.

8. Region cookies on baking sheets:

   The usage of a spatula, switch to ready baking sheets. (If dough gets mushy, take a seat back 10 minutes.) Reroll scraps; decrease shapes. Repeat with final dough.

9. Bake cookies and let frigid:

   Bake, rotating halfway via, till edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes (searching on size). Frigid totally on wire racks.

10. Manufacture icing

    Sift confectioners’ sugar steady into a dinky bowl. Stagger in milk, water, or lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, till tender and thick ample to coat the wait on of a spoon. If too skinny, shuffle in extra sugar; if too thick, add extra liquid.

11. Beautify cookies:

    Dip cookies in icing or unfold icing over cookies the usage of the wait on of a spoon. Add other decorations, if desired. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes.

Making Sugar Cookies Forward

You must per chance also create sugar cookie dough forward and refrigerate or freeze. Duvet the disks of dough tightly with plastic wrap and retailer in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or the freezer for up to three months.

You must per chance also furthermore bake and toughen the cookies and retailer them for up to one week at room temperature.

Frequently Requested Questions

Are you able to freeze sugar cookies?

The dough freezes smartly and will be stored in the freezer for up to three months. Baked cookies could per chance also gentle no longer be frozen.

Can I expend confectioners’ sugar for sugar cookies?

Confectioners’ sugar or powdered sugar can no longer be substituted straight for granulated sugar. Confectioners’ sugar has a magnificent finer texture and contains some cornstarch, so it is a ways going to swap the texture.

More Sugar Cookie Recipes to Are attempting:

• Perfect Sugar Cookies
• Extensive Chocolate Sugar Cookies
• Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
• Dutch Sugar Cookies (Arnhemse Meisjes)
• Citrus Sugar Cookies
• Vanilla-Bean Sugar Cookies
• Crackly Cinnamon Sugar Cookies