This week on the MyCupcakeAddiction YouTube channel I’m posting my first ever COOKIE video! It seems odd that I’ve done cupcakes, cake pops and cakes and never tackled their delicious cousin, the cookie!
Well, things are about to change and while I don’t see myself doing a lot of cookie videos, there are a couple coming up in the next few weeks including Fridays Princess Crown cookie video and a Special Announcement cookie video due out later next week.
I tried and tested a TON of cookie recipes and found a lot of them were either too soft, spread out of shape when baked or shrunk down in size – non of those things are ideal for decorated cookies so I set about experimenting till I found the perfect recipe to share with you.
The thing I love about this recipe is that its NEVER failed me, not even once and it’s really easy to change the flavour by simply eliminating the vanilla extract and replacing it with your preferred flavour. Lemon juice and zest? Strawberry flavouring? Whatever you desire…
Just try to keep the consistencies the same so replace the vanilla spoon for spoon with whatever your alternate flavouring is. Don’t worry about zests – you can add these in over and above the recipe with no problems at all, its just the liquids you want to keep your eye on.
So, without further ado, here is your new favourite sugar cookie recipe! (I hope)
Recipe:
- 400g / 14oz all purpose (plain) flour, weighed then sifted – plus extra for rolling the cookies out
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (I mention baking powder in the video – it is baking SODA you need)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 220g / 8oz unsalted butter (you can also use salted butter and eliminate the 1/4 tsp salt)
- 170g / 6oz sugar (caster or superfine)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 175 degrees celcius or 350 degrees faranheit
- In a large bowl mix baking soda and flour
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
- Add the egg and beat well
- With the mixer on low, add one third of your flour and mix to combine. Add the second third of your flour and continue mixing on low speed.
- Remove the mixer and add your final third of flour and your vanilla, stirring it into the mixture by hand using a spatula or wooden spoon
- Tip the mix out onto your bench and knead with your hands (approx 3-5 minutes) until the dough is no longer crumbly and you are able to form a tight ball.
- Cover in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour prior to use. 3 hours is better and you can leave it in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also freeze this dough wrapped for up to a month.
- Once chilled, remove your dough from the fridge and break off a section to work with (I usually work with about a third at a time)
- Give it a quick knead and sprinkle down a generous amount of flour on your work surface and also on top of the dough
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 2-3mm thickness
- Cut your shapes using your desired cookie cutter and place onto a cookie tray lined with baking or greaseproof paper
- Place in your preheated oven for 7-10 minutes – your cookies are done when they just slightly start to turn golden brown around the edges.Watch your cookies – there is about 1 minutes difference between golden brown and burnt so try to stay close while they’re cooking
- Immediately place your cookies onto a cooling rack and once they are completely cool , decorate as desired.
Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Click HERE to see the video for decorating these super cute princess crown sugar cookies
Cookie making tips:
Your dough should ALWAYS be cold and only rolled out once between chilling. Chill it, roll it, cut it. Take and scraps and chill them again before re-rolling a re-cutting. Warm dough it sticky and almost impossible to work with.
These cookies cook really fast – cooking times may vary depending on how thick you’ve rolled your dough so use them as a guide and stick close to the oven, checking every minute or so after the first 5-6 minutes.
I hope you enjoy this cookie recipe as much as I do!
xx Elise
