Em's Sugar Cookies

These 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.