Holiday Cookies: Soft and Chewy Vanilla Sugar Cookies, A New Take on an Old Favorite.

I have a confession to make.

I don’t like sugar cookies.

At least I don’t like sugar cookies that don’t have the word Pillsbury in it. For years I have made cut-out cookies that look cute and are fun to decorate, but when I go to take a bite, the disappointment starts. One bite and in the trash it goes.

I think it’s the texture of the cookie. I just prefer soft cookies…which I why I like Pillsbury sugar cookies.

Soft and chewy. I think it just comes down to personal preference. My husband loves a good old fashioned crisp sugar cookie.

To each their own.

I, however, need the soft and chewy sugar cookie so it was time to recipe test. I adapted this recipe from a lemon crinkle recipe that I love. The result is a somewhat nontraditional sugar cookie with out of this world flavor.

Soft and Chewy Vanilla Sugar Cookies:

Cream the softened butter and sugar in a medium bowl.

Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy.

Next, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix on low speed until just combined.

Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough. A small ice cream scoop works well for this.

Drop the dough balls into a small bowl filled with 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Roll the dough ball around until it is completely coated with powdered sugar.

Hmm…maybe I should have named these Double Sugared Cookies????

Place the sugared dough balls onto a greased baking sheet.

One of the down sides of making a soft sugar cookie is that you can’t roll out the dough for cookie cut-outs. The dough is just too sticky and they would spread in the oven. So I wondered if instead, I could press the dough into greased, oven-safe cookie cutters?

Bake the cookies until the edges just begin to brown but the center is still a little doughy. The cookies will continue to bake on the warm cookie sheet, out of the oven.

So far so good on the cookie cutter cookies, but will they release from the cutter???

Yes!!!!

Look at how cute these are! The cut-outs did fall a bit in the middle but that just leaves more room for icing. Which is never a bad thing.

Enjoy!

Soft and Chewy Vanilla Sugar Cookies

1 stick salted butter, softened.
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the softened butter and sugar with a hand held mixer in a medium bowl. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix on low speed until combined. Add powdered sugar to small bowl. Drop 1 rounded tablespoon of batter into the powdered sugar and roll around until the dough ball is fully coated. Place the sugar covered dough ball onto a greased cookie sheet (or gently press into a heat-safe greased cookie cutter). Repeat with remaining batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes until the cookie is just starting to brown around the edges but the center is still soft and slightly doughy. Let cool on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes.

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