Grandma’s All Occasion Sugar Cookies

This was the final cookie that I placed in my Operation  Baking Gals box. I figured that this would serve as a good excuse to try another sugar cookie recipe. I’ve seen quite a few food bloggers use this for rolled (shaped) cookies and rave about it, but the problem I have with this recipe is that they did spread a little. Spreading wouldn’t allow a cookie to keep it’s original cutter shape, so I’m going to stick with my go-to recipe for rolled cookies.

My husband did really like these, and I will admit that they have a great flavor.  This recipe is also from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From my Home to Yours.

Grandma’s All Occasion Sugar Cookies
Source: Dorie Greenspan‘s Baking From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

• 2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• sugar and/or cinnamon for dusting

Directions:

1. Using a mixer, beat the butter until it’s fluffy. Add in the sugar and mix for 2 minutes until the mixture is pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Then, with the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture until it’s just incorporated. From then, finish mixing with a spatula until it’s mixed well.
2. Place the dough on the counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (the diameter is up to you-I usually like cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic or wax paper. Whether you’re going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
3. Preheat the oven to  350 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
4. If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 0.5 cm/1/4 inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the dough onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 4 cm = 1 1/2 inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.)
5. After you’ve rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.
6. If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into 0.5 cm = 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 4 cm = 1 1/2 inches of space between the cookies.
7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all.
8. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you’d like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.