sugar

Easiest Cut-out Sugar Cookies

I hope everyone had an amazing Easter! We sure did here in Chicagoland because it was 75 degrees and sunny! So beautiful. Spring has arrived, people are getting vaccinated for Covid-19, let’s get this show on the road! The show being life as we know and love it.

I made these sugar cookies for Easter and I’m so happy I found the perfect recipe! They are so easy and equally delicious, this is my new go-to cut-out. Some may say you do not need to chill the dough before rolling it out, but I say 30 minutes is key. Me and a room temperature dough do not get along. So, here we go… put on those aprons and let’s get started 🙂

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
Cookie cutters in desired shapes

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)

In a bowl (I used my hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in extract and egg until combined. Add in baking powder and salt and beat until combined. I know! Different than your typical recipe. Last, slowly beat in flour 1 cup at a time until dough forms.

Seperate the dough into 2 discs and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. No more, no less.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly flour your work surface. Take out 1 disc of dough and roll to desired thickness. Thinner for a crispy cookie, thicker for a soft cookie.

Place cookies on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Store covered at room temp or in the fridge. Enjoy!

Soft Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

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Kids are going back to school already…. what?! The summer has really flown by, I can’t believe it! Luckily for me, my guy doesn’t start until after Labor Day so we have a couple weeks left. But for those of you who are ready for fall, this recipe is for you!

It’s a super easy cinnamon cookie for a surprise after school snack or one that kids can help with, too. It would even be a perfect Christmas cookie but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m still in summer mode. So go ahead and get those aprons on! You probably already have these ingredients in your kitchen…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter almost melted
3/4 cup sugar (+ 1/4 cup for rolling)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon and baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add in egg until combined. Beat in vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture, stirring at the end with a spatula so you don’t over-mix.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, put 1/4 cup of sugar. When dough is chilled, form balls and roll in sugar and then place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 9 minutes. Leave them on the cookie sheet for about 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. This will help them set because they will be very delicate right out of the oven.

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Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

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Memorial Day Cutout Cookies

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Happy Memorial Day, everyone! It has definitely been a hot one here in Chicago, with temps over 90 degrees and super sunny blue skies! I am not complaining as summer is life to me. So much fun! But since it has been so hot, we decided to stay in today and of course, do some baking. My son helped make these cookies and they are so easy and best of all… do not need to be refrigerated! Cutouts always take so long because you have to refrigerate the dough before you can roll them out, cut out shapes and decorate. This recipe is fridge free! 🙂

This recipe also only makes several small cookies. The stars we did are very small but the flags were bigger so we only got 4 of those. You can easily double the recipe if need be. But super fun and easy, tastes great and is the perfect thing to do if you want to get out of the heat! So go get those aprons on and let’s celebrate and remember our soldiers.

What you will need:

Cookie sheet
Parchment paper and wax paper

1 cup all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cookie cutouts
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In an other bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in yolk and vanilla until combined. Add the flour and beat until just combined. This may take a while. Once the dough starts to form and come together, form a ball with your hands.

Place the dough ball on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Flour the top of the ball and then place a piece of wax paper on top. Roll out the dough to desired thickness. Remove wax paper and cut out into desired shapes. The dough is sticky so I just removed the excess dough and placed the parchment paper directly onto a cookie sheet. Decorate with sprinkles and bake for 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Note: Transferring the parchment paper directly to the cookie sheet withe the cookies on it works best but I went through quite a few sheets of parchment paper. You can also try removing the cut outs with a metal spatula but mine were too sticky. Do what works best for you.

Enjoy!

 

No Roll Sugar Cookies

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Happy 2018 everybody!! Wow, let’s hope this year is even better than last year! I’m going to strive to be a better me, healthier, happier and hopefully maybe even make some money! 🙂 So to start off, I’m posting a super easy and delicious sugar cookie recipe that you do not have to chill OR roll out! Hooray!

These are super fun because you can decorate them however you want. Use any color of sprinkles or use frosting. Here in Chicago it is -5 degrees so I wanted to represent ice or snow. Mine look like they can be served at a Disney’s Frozen party 🙂 Rolling the dough in sprinkles before baking give these cookies an extra crunch and combined with a chewy inside… so good! I highly recommend doing that for this recipe.

So here we go! Oh, I halved the recipe below which made about 20 cookies so if you don’t need any more than that, you can do the same.

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Sprinkles for decorating

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and egg and beat until combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture until just combined and dough is formed. If using sprinkles, place those in a small bowl.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sprinkles. Place on prepared baking sheet. Gently press down the cookies with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Snickerdoodles

Need an easy recipe for a dessert RIGHT NOW? Here it is! You probably already have all of these ingredients and the dough doesn’t need any chilling time! Yay!

These cookies are the perfect treat with your afternoon coffee or tea OR as an addition to your holiday cookie plate 😉

So… let’s get started making the BEST and EASIEST Snickerdoodle!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons sugar (for rolling)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (for rolling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and beat until combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture until just combined.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Note: Makes about 4 dozen cookies so feel free to halve this recipe. Store covered at room temp.

“Whatever” Cookies 

I made these cookies because I was bored and we needed something sweet in the house. They are called “whatever” cookies because you can put whatever ingredients you want! The sky is the limit. Obviously you want to put stuff that you actually want in a cookie, but you can have fun with it! I used pecan chips and Heath Toffee Bits because that’s what was in our pantry. Honestly, I wish I would have added more ingredients and the next time I make these, I’m definitely adding chocolate, white chocolate and maybe some raisins or dried cranberries. Yum!

This is actually the cookie dough recipe I used in my previous post for Brookies. I love it so much and then just added the extras. So, let’s just get to it…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whatevers or extras- I used 1/3 cup Heath Toffee Bits and 1/3 cup chopped pecans

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together butter and both sugars until creamy and smooth. Add in egg, yolk and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture until dough is formed. Stir in your “whatever” ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Allow to rest for 1 minute on cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Spritz Sugar Cookies

How is it already December?! I feel like I say that every year at this time. November was a blink of an eye for me. Like it never even happened. I remember Trick-or-Treating, and now… it’s holiday baking, holiday party planning, gift shopping and wrapping, Christmas cards to order and mail out, etc etc etc! But, to be honest, I love it. Christmas is the best season so let’s do this! 🙂

These cookies are a family favorite. My aunt gave me her spritz machine last year and this is actually my first time making them. This machine is seriously from 1989 and in my opinion, not super easy to use. It works, but a pain in the butt. Hopefully, they make them better nowadays. Here is a picture of mine:

I used the tree shape for this post, but as you can see, you can make all sorts of different cookies or appetizer shapes. It’s like making cutout cookies, only shooting the dough out of a gun 😉

So, if you have a spritz maker or “Super Shooter,” let’s go make some cookies.

What you will need:

2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Dash of salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl or bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter and vegetable shortening until creamy. Beat in sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until combined.

Divide the dough into two rounds and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Have your cookie sheets ready. Take out one of the dough rounds and fill your shooter (that’s what I’m going to call it). Attach the appropriate disc and you’re ready to shoot away! Fill the cookie sheets with cookies and bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool on wire racks. Continue making cookies until all the cookie dough is used. Enjoy!

Tip: Before baking, sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Or, you can decorate however you like after the cookies bake. Have fun with it!

 

Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Seeds

Yesterday was the day of pumpkin carving in my household! It is so fun and brings back many good memories of my childhood. However, Liam was grossed out by the pumpkin! I mean, yes, it is pretty nasty, feels weird and smells but I enjoyed myself. And of course I saved the seeds! Last year I made drunken pumpkin seeds, but this year I wanted something simple, sweet and salty. So, go wash your pumpkin seeds and let’s roast!

What you will need:

1 cup washed pumpkin seeds (I got this from 1 medium pumpkin)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit. Place the pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 30 minutes to dry them out.

Once dry, take out seeds and set your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until all the seeds are coated. Put the seeds back on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the seeds are lightly golden brown. Enjoy!

Yum! Such a great snack. And here is our mess from carving…

 

Have fun!

 

Cinnamon Roll Cookies


These cookies were a bit challenging for me. Any recipe that calls for chilling, then rolling out and then rolling into logs is tough. This recipe takes a long time so please read the entire thing before starting. From start to finish it took me 9 hours. The majority of the time is chilling the dough, but just know beforehand that this isn’t a cookie you can bring to a dinner party that starts in an hour. So, let’s go! Challenge yourself and make this cookie! It’s so delicious and a perfect start to the fall season…

What you will need:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Optional icing:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of milk

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Add in eggs one at a time and then vanilla. Slowly add in the flour mixture until you get a nice dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Once the dough is chilled, have your melted butter in a bowl. Stir together the sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Roll out one half of the cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Brush with the melted butter and then sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar over that. Roll into a log starting with the longest side. Wrap with plastic wrap and put in freezer while you do the same to the next half of dough. Freeze both logs for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Take out one of the cookie logs from the freezer and cut into cookies, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden on the bottom.

So pretty, right?! Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Next, make the icing. This is optional because the cookies are delicious without it, but it does take them to another level. I only frosted half of mine. But in a bowl, stir together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over the tops of the cookies. Enjoy!

Butter Pecan Cookies

Calling all crispy cookie lovers! This cookie is for you. And so easy, too! One bowl, one spoon. All you need is a working oven and you can do it! The perfect recipe for beginner bakers and also for any occasion. Easily doubles or triples If you need more. So let’s go! Start your ovens…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
Dash of salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup granulated sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat or stir together butter, sugar and vanilla until combined. Stir in flour and salt until dough is formed. Stir in pecans. Form into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Press down gently with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on how big you make them. Edges should be browned. Let cool on wire rack. Enjoy!