These ain’t yo mama’s sugar cookies!
These cookies actually taste amazing.
Rich buttery shortbread-like cookies topped with an equally decadent smooth buttercream glaze.
You never knew frosted cookies could taste this good!
I love making these cookies for holidays and parties. Because they are cut-out cookies they aren’t limited to Christmas. You can make footballs for the Super Bowl, Easter eggs for Easter, Pumpkins for Halloween, leaves for fall, hearts for Valentines Day and shamrocks for St. Patrick’s day.
In fact, I’ve made all of those shapes and they’ve been a huge hit at the parties I’ve taken them to.
It’s fun to watch people innocently pick up one of these cookies thinking it’s a sugar cookie and BAM! they don’t know what hit their taste buds.
Yes, they are that good.
I’m so glad my dear Grandma Marilyn passed this recipe down and that I can share it with all of you!
I think it may have been passed down from my great grandma Grace, so I think this treasure has been in the family for a while. I know I’ve enjoyed these cookies for as long as I can remember.
Get yourself a big ol’ box of butter and make these for your next special event. You’ll be glad you did!
- FOR THE COOKIES
- 1 cup SALTED butter, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- FOR THE FROSTING
- 3½ cups powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- FOR THE COOKIES
- Pre-heat oven to 400* F
- Combine dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fully incorporated. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to stir (or mix in a stand mixer) until fully incorporated.
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet and stir or mix until fully combined. The dough will be stiff, but this is ok!
- Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic and put in the fridge to cool for at least 20 minutes (up to a day or two).
- When the dough has chilled, remove half of it from the fridge and place onto a well floured surface. Using a floured rolling pin, gradually roll the dough to your desired thickness. I make mine fairly thin (about ⅛ inch). Don't panic if the dough cracks, just press it back together with your fingers and continue to roll.
- Using cookie cutters, stamp the entire surface of the dough. Make sure to collect the scrap dough to re-roll. Keep the surface you're working on well-floured and use a spatula to lift the cookies if they start to stick at any point.
- Place dough cut outs onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. The cookies don't spread, so you can really squeeze them onto the baking sheet.
- When you've finished rolling and cutting the first half of the dough, remove the second half and repeat until all the dough has been used.
- When your first baking sheet is full, place it into the preheated oven and set a timer for 5 minutes (up to 7 if you make your cookies thicker)
- When the cookies are finished baking, remove them from the oven and immediately transfer them to wire racks to cool until you are ready to decorate them. The plain cookies can also be frozen and decorated later!
- FOR THE FROSTING
- By hand or in a stand mixer, combine softened butter, vanilla extract and milk. Slowly add the powered sugar and mix to fully combine. Add more milk if necessary, but a thin consistency will allow you to get a nice smooth finish on your cookies!
- *Frosting tip - with a regular knife, place a small dollop of frosting onto the center of the cookie. Use the tip of the knife to "push" the frosting to each edge of the cookie. Add colored sugar, sprinkles, etc and set aside to dry.
