recipe to Make Sugar Cookies

Hi everyone,

                     The most important in a christmas is cookies . cookies is the choice of everyone. Cookies have been around for years—hundreds and hundreds of years, even. Historians can trace the earliest cookie-like sweets all the way back to seventh century Persia AD. Cakes were commonplace at this time, and bakers would often use a small amount of batter to test oven temperature, thus inventing little cakes—a name the Dutch would later coin as koekje, literally translating to “little cakes.”

The idea of little cakes spread from Persia to the Mediterranean and then later to Europe. By the fourteenth century, wafers were being sold on the streets of Paris and cookbooks were filled with cookie recipes. They finally made their way to the United States in the early 1800s, and now, it’s nearly impossible to imagine life without them. 

One of the most enduring types of cookies in America over the past century is the tried-and-true sugar cookie. Simple to make, decorate and store, sugar cookies are enormously popular around the holidays, but are enjoyed year-round too. Everyone needs a go-to sugar cookie recipe in their recipe box, and we say it should be this one—it’s easily one of our most popular homemade cookie recipes ever. Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar 
• 1 cup butter 
• 3 oz cream cheese, softened 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• ½ teaspoon almond extract 
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 egg yolk 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 

Materials: 

• Large bowl 
• Plastic wrap 
• Cookie cutters 
• Cookie sheets 
• Hand or stand mixer

Method

First, in a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the flour. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

 Next, add the flour a bit at a time, mixing well until none remains.

Shape the dough into 3 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for one hour—this will make the dough easier to handle!

 After the hour is up, heat your oven to 375°F and roll out one disk of dough at a time with a rolling pin on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Lightly flour 2 ½-inch round cookie cutters, or cookie cutters of your desired shape and cut the dough.

Place the cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake the cookies for 6 to 10 minutes or until they appear light golden-brown. Immediately remove the cookies from the cookie sheets and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.

 You can easily put your own spin on sugar cookies! Try swapping the almond extract for vanilla, or amp up the flavor by adding a 2 tsp grated lemon peel or 1 tsp of cinnamon.  Most recipes give a range of baking times to compensate for oven variations. Check on them at the minimum bake time, looking for firmly set cookies, browned edges and other signs of doneness.