Yummy Crisp Sugar Cookies

Crisp sugar cookies are different beasts from the soft, chewy modern style. These bake up thin and snappy with delicately crackled edges, the kind that shatter pleasingly when you take a bite and hold their shape under decorative icing. They’re the cookie of dedicated bakers and detailed cookie cutters.

Two-flavor extract is the small detail that elevates these from generic. Vanilla extract provides the round, expected sweetness; lemon extract adds a bright high note that keeps the cookie from tasting flat. Don’t skip the lemon, even though it sounds optional.

The cream (sweet or sour, both work) does double duty as a tenderizer and acidifier. The lactic acid in sour cream activates the baking soda and adds a subtle tang; sweet cream adds richness without much tang. Either gives you a more complex flavor than plain milk.

ROLL THIN. The recipe is emphatic about this for good reason. Thin sugar cookies (about ⅛ inch) bake up crispy and lacy; thick ones go soft and cake-like, defeating the entire crisp purpose.

Pro Tips

• Use a lightly floured pastry cloth as the recipe suggests. Less flour gets worked into the dough than rolling on a floured countertop, which means tender cookies instead of tough ones.
• High heat (400°F / 200°C) and short bake time keeps them crisp. Lower temps for longer give cake-like results.
• Sprinkle with coarse sanding sugar for the prettiest sparkle that won’t melt during baking.
• Reroll scraps once. Twice and the dough turns tough.

Variations

• Replace lemon extract with almond, orange, or peppermint for different flavor profiles.
• Brush with thinned royal icing and decorate with sprinkles for holiday cookies.
• Sandwich two cookies with raspberry jam or buttercream for jammie dodgers.