Sugar Cookie Recipe – Rolled Dough Tutorial

This Sugar Cookie Recipe post is courtesy of our Sunday Sweets contributor Leah with Iced…Bake Shoppe – In my adventures in pastry, I have found very few things as versatile as a well decorated sugar cookie. While cakes, cupcakes and crème puffs are divine (who are we kidding – I have a sweet tooth), they aren’t as easy to give as a gift, throw in a child’s lunch, or bring to a party.

Growing up there wasn’t a holiday my mother didn’t send us to school with a few dozen decorated sugar cookies to share with our friends and classmates. While I never intended sugar cookies to become such a staple of Iced…, their appeal is undeniable. A tasty, basic recipe is versatile and can become any character, any color and is easily flavored.

This tutorial is for one of my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipes. There are oodles of recipes online, but this one has a pleasant flavor with just a hint of citrus, and the texture is light and soft.

Disclaimer – I ran out of lemons the day I shot the photos! Whoopsie! So the printed picture is just a substitute! Do not use paper lemons when baking! {wink}

Printable Sugar Cookie Recipe – Rolled Dough Tutorial:

Notes:

Brandy: I imagine this question will arise – Brandy? In baking? For kids? While optional, and I’d never recommend someone run out of the house to buy it just for sugar cookies – it does add a little something-something. Vanilla extract contains alcohol as well, and the alcohol in both will burn off in the baking process – leaving just the flavor behind. The cookies already will have a lovely vanilla and lemon flavor, so it is entirely optional. If you are a fan of almond extract, that can easily be put in as well.

Butter: As a pastry chef, I rarely use salted butter in baking. That said – while I would never use it in pastry, it can be used in baking. Often times, salted butter is already in our fridges or is cheaper in the groceries stores. I’d recommend cutting a little bit of the additional salt out of the recipe if you do use salted butter.

I often leave my butter out overnight to get it room temperature to bake with. If you are in a hurry and only have cold butter, grating your butter through a box grater on the largest hole will help in the creaming.

Salt: As a child, my mother would often omit salt from baking recipes to make them “healthier” for us. While the baking she produced was still mouth watering – there is a reason why most recipes call for it…flavor. Usually the amount in the recipe is relatively small, and it does enhance the flavor of the end product. That said – while not necessary, I do use it when called for.

Dough: It is important to chill the dough prior to working with it to allow the butter to firm up, and to chill before baking. If this is not done, the cookies will often expand and lose their edges when baked.

If the dough begins to get soft, chill again. Do not add more flour to make it less sticky. A stickier dough will work fine if chilled, and will produce a better textured cookie than a very dry dough.

A good basic dough is a great foundation, and one everyone should have in their recipe arsenal. A dough like this easily takes on flavors and colors, so with a bit of tweaking, can become new all over again.

Next time we will look at how to make royal icing, and later at techniques and projects simple enough for beginners. The key to decorated sugar cookies is practice (and some patience), but the results can be stunning and delicious at the same time.

A big THANK YOU to Leah of Iced…Bake Shoppe for sharing this recipe and tutorial with us. Be sure to follow her on Facebook for more delicious creations and yes – she ships throughout Canada and the US!