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How the Classes and Challenge Work:
Cooking 101: The Basics is a 16 week class on Wednesdays. I will post a new recipe with tips on getting great results along with pictures. It’s like your own personal online cooking school! Take as long as you need, but once you make the recipe (or a similar version) come back and add your link to the post to share with everyone. No blog…no worries…add your pictures to the Facebook group, we’d all love to see them!
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Grab your aprons and let’s get cooking!
WEEK #10 – SUGAR COOKIES
Mmmmm…sugar cookies! Cookies seem super easy, but they tend to get the best of many of us. Too crunchy, too underdone, too over done, I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. After years of baking cookies, I learned several things:
1. Always spray the pan, no matter what the instructions say (or use parchment paper).
2. Take cookies out of oven just as the sides are beginning to set up for a moist,chewy cookie as they will finish setting up as they cool.
3. Use the best vanilla you can get your hands on. You will be able to taste the difference, promise.
As I was attempting to change my normal recipe to fit my new dietary needs, I ate a lot of cookies…probably a few to many. What was cool though, was that my normal recipe worked…with equal substitutions of my alternate ingredients. WOOHOO! That rarely happens for me. Plus even with the changes, you won’t notice the difference…no one in my family did. They assumed they were the ones that I had stored in the freezer, not a freshly made batch for me.
I usually make these cookies by doubling this recipe, scooping up balls of dough, freezing them, and then storing them in a ziptop baggie. Then I can pull out how ever many cookies I want to make for a quick treat without messing up the kitchen. Love it. (Note: I have not tried freezing the gf, vegan version yet.)
Homemade Sugar Cookies
Homemade sugar cookies are a classic holiday cookie. They're easy to make, freeze well, and are perfect for an anytime treat. This recipe is gluten free and dairy-free.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (or vegan baking sticks, I like Earth Balance), softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg (or egg replacer equivalent)
- 1/2 cup oil
- 3 cups white flour (or gluten free flour that substitutes cup-for-cup, such as mine or King Arthur
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- extra sugar for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Mix all ingredients together in a mixer on medium speed until well combined. Scoop into 1 inch balls.
- Roll balls in extra sugar and place on a greased baking sheet.
- Bake 10-15 minutes or until edges start to turn a golden brown.
- Remove pan from oven and wait 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
©Around My Family Table
Notes
Make a large batch and freeze individual cookie balls for a quick cookie treat.
Gluten Free/Vegan: I make these with the complete substitutions for gf, vegan and they work great. Substitute what you need and this cookie should work perfectly!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 191Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 89mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 1gSugar: 9gProtein: 3g
{Last week: Mashed Potatoes Next Week: Hollandaise Sauce}
Could this be made as bars? What size pan would you use and how long would you bake them? Thank you
Hi Gaile, I don’t see you couldn’t turn them into bars. I’d try a 9×13 pan and cook for 15-20 minutes to start. However, I haven’t tried to make them into bars, so I’m not 100% sure on the baking time. Start with 15 and then work from there. Please let me know how they work out as bars….it’s a great idea! ~wendy
This recipe is perfect for me! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
What do you suggest for an egg replacer? I have been using Ener-G lately but found it sometimes makes the dough a little bit dry.
I use Ener-G, but I often add a little more water of liquid so that it’s not so dry.
Hey, mine came out of the over looking very flat and sorta runny, and really oily… do you have any idea why this might’ve happened?? they spread out to the sides, and by the time i took them out of the oven, it looked more like a giant flat cookie/pizza that the ones on your pictures…HELP! i’m now wondering what to do with the rest of the mixture…. any ideas????
This is so weird! Did you do any substitutions or use ingredients as written?
You could try adding in more flour to thicken dough. Or scooping out cookie size scoops and putting into the freezer for 30 minutes or so to set up before baking.
Keep me posted on how either if those work out. I’ve been making this recipe for over ten years with no probs and I double checked the recipe to make sure I didn’t forget something. I’m not sure what happened. I can try to make them again this week too if those suggestions don’t help.
I’m feeling really dumb. I have read and re-read the directions, and I put everything in I was supposed to…my dough is VERY “mix-ish.” Like, it’s crumbly, and not very dough-like. Nobody else seems to have had this problem – any idea on what I did wrong, or what I should add to fix it?
Strange…I would suggest maybe another egg. Perhaps my eggs are bigger than the ones you are using.
Also…it is a dry mix, so try grabbing some and squeezing it in your hand to see if it will hold together.
You could also try a splash of milk, but I’m not sure what that will do in baking.
I made this recipe for sugar cookies last weekend. My dough was really crumbly so I decided to add another egg and a splash or two of buttermilk. Ahh this was a clever idea! These taste like something my great grandmother would have made. Everyone I shared these with went crazy over them.
How many does a regular batch make? And if you take the balls of dough out of the freezer, do you need to let it thaw out? Or do you just put on greased baking sheet and bake for longer or still the 10-15 minutes? thanks!
Jamie…it makes about 2 dozen. If you freeze the dough, then I would let it sit out for 30 mins or so while oven preheats then roll in sugar.
If you bake from frozen, they will take longer to bake. I usually just start with 15 minutes and go from there.
I made these… In Hawaii, it was about 80 degrees as normal here I had to put the dough in the freezer for a little while because it was kind of runny. Maybe less oil next time?
Hmmm…that’s odd. I make them in AZ at 110 and no problems. Did you make them GF or regular?
I replaced the oil with applesauce! Healthier AND not as runny! But still yummy!
I made these gluten free with your flour mix on Sunday. I doubled it and put the scoops in the freezer. I baked them last night for a lake outing this weekend and they are phenomenal! We have a bunch of celiacs and they are gonna love them! So that answers the question about whether the GF version freezes well–yes!
My favorite cookies are sugar cookies. Thanks!