Sugar Cookies: The search continues…

I’ve been searching for the PERFECT sugar cookie. While I like the sugar cookies I’ve made, I’ve been searching for a cookie that my fiance LOVES (and I can roll out into cute shapes). I bought my fiance a cookie bouquet for our anniversary, and he seemed to really like those. So, I searched for a cookie bouquet copycat recipe, and thisis what I found. (you will need to scroll down for the recipe)

Anyways, I decided to bite the bullet, and make them today. I shudder at the thought of crisco in baking, but I didn’t want to substitute anything. So, I made them as is (with a SMALL substitution). See, I made vanilla sugar two weeks ago, and I wanted to actually use it in a recipe. This stuff is amazing and the cute little black specks make me forget about the crisco in the recipe (ok, maybe not)…

Turns out, this makes a REALLY soft cookie that doesn’t spread very much. I didn’t brown these cookies..they came out at JUST the right time. I did make these in two pans, one on parchment on the middle shelf (cookies on the right) and one with baking spray on the top shelf (cookies to the left).

I think these work best on the middle shelf, especially if you want to decorate the cookies. There is little to no cracks when you do it this way :). However, these are a little TOO sticky to roll out into shapes, and aren’t as dense as the cookie bouquet cookies. Don’t get me wrong…these tasted GREAT and the vanilla sugar gave the cookies a wonderful flavor!! Check them out!!

Anyways, enough talk already…here is the recipe!

Cookies by Design Sugar Short Bread Cookies
Source: Cooking Light forum (link above)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Whip sugar and shortening in a large bowl, add eggs and beat well. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Knead dough into ball, roll out and cut. Place on cookie sheet in oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes.

This makes a ton of dough…I made 24 cookies (about 2-3 inches in diameter when done) and I think that was a little over half of the dough, so I will say this makes 40 cookies.

Do I DARE give you the POINTS on these per serving? It’s actually not that bad..especially considering Weight Watchers’ sugar cookie recipe is the same amount of points per cookie!!

Points*: 3 (this was calculated using eTools so it only gives me points values but 1 point is about 50-60 calories to give you an idea)

Stay tuned…the search continues… :D. I think the next recipe I will try comes from my cookie decorating cookbook that I purchased shortly after the holiday season last year.