Em's Sugar Cookies
Submitted by Edna
Sugar cookies with a half-shortening half-butter base for crisp edges and tender centers. Pressed flat with a sugar-dipped glass, baked 8 minutes, ready to ice and decorate.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
10 minREADY
30 minThese are old-fashioned drop sugar cookies, the kind that fill cookie tins at every holiday and bake sale across America. The half-shortening, half-butter combination is the workhorse here. Butter brings the flavor, shortening brings the soft, tender crumb that pure-butter sugar cookies never quite achieve. Together they produce cookies with crisp edges and a soft give in the middle.
The cream of tartar is small but important. It tenderizes the gluten and adds a faint, almost shortbread-like tang that keeps the cookies from tasting flat-sweet. Skip it and the cookies bake up tougher and one-note.
No chill required. The high-fat dough holds its shape on the sheet without resting time, which is part of why these are such a popular last-minute baking option. Roll into 1-inch balls, press flat with a sugar-dipped glass for that classic crackled-top look, and bake.
Watch the bake time. Eight minutes at 350°F (175°C) is the goal. The cookies should still look pale on top with just-set edges. They keep cooking on the sheet as they cool and firm up perfectly.
Pro Tips
- Use a heavy glass with a flat bottom for pressing. Anything too light bounces back.
- Dip the glass bottom in sugar between cookies. The sugar coating prevents sticking and adds a sparkly top.
- Pull the cookies before they brown. Browned sugar cookies turn crisp instead of tender.
- Cool on the sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a rack. Hot cookies tear when moved too soon.
Variations
- Add 1 teaspoon of almond extract along with the vanilla for a bakery-style twist.
- Stamp with cookie stamps before baking for shaped designs.
- Tint half the dough with food coloring and swirl together for marbled cookies.
Ingredients
Directions
Cream sugar and shortening well.
Add egg and mix well.
Sift dry ingredients together and add with the vanilla to shortening mixture.
Mix well.
No need to chill dough. Roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter.
Place on greased cook sheets and flatten slightly with fingers.
Press down with a glass dipped in sugar or cookie press.
Bake about eight minutes in a 350℉ (180℃) oven.
Cool on racks.
Decorate with icing and sprinkles if desired.
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