Best-Ever Sugar Cookies
If you like sugar cookies, then these are the ones for you! If you don’t like sugar cookies, I bet you’ll be a new fan of them after trying these! In honor of National Sugar Cookie Day, celebrated every year on July 9, here is my recipe.
My Best-Ever Sugar Cookies have a big vanilla flavor, and they are soft and slightly chewy thanks to the addition of a 1/4 cup of light brown sugar. They are a simple, yet elegant and delicious cookie. They taste absolutely amazing when dunked in coffee!
As with all my recipes, I use the scientific method to carefully craft them to ensure you get deliciously perfect results every time.
I hope you give them a try!
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
2 stick (226 grams or 1 cup) of unsalted butter
2 large eggs
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) of white granulated sugar
104 grams (1/2 cup, packed) of light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
384 grams (3 cups) of all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
50 grams (1/4 cup) of white granulated sugar for rolling
Yields 20 cookies
Instructions
Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small pieces to help it come to room temperature.
Geeky Tip: Ingredients that are all the same temperature incorporate more easily and fully.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Geeky Tip: Oven temperatures vary wildly, so get an oven thermometer. When my oven “beeps” to indicate pre-heating is done, it is usually 50-75 degrees below the target temperature. An oven thermometer is the best $5 baking investment you can make!
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Geeky Tip: I highly recommend using a light-colored aluminum baking sheet. Baking sheets that are dark will conduct more heat and may burn whatever is on them. Just think of wearing a black shirt versus a white shirt on a hot sunny day. Old baking sheets that have dark spots may heat unevenly.
Put the white granulated sugar for rolling into a bowl. Set it aside.
Fully whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside.
Geeky Tip: Whisking together all the dry ingredients ensures a homogenous mixture, and it breaks up any clumps in the flour. Also, make sure to keep flour in an airtight container in a cool, dry place to maintain freshness and prevent spoilage.
Beat the butter until it has a smooth appearance. About 1 minute on medium-high speed.
Geeky Tip: This helps to work some air into the butter that will aid the rise later, and it makes it easier for the sugar to cut into the butter.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the white sugar into the butter, and cream together until lighter in color and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Geeky Tip: Adding the white sugar before the light brown sugar produces a better result and makes it easier for the white sugar crystals to cut into the butter to create small air pockets that will help generate the rise later.
Add the brown sugar, and cream together until fully incorporated. About 1 minute on medium-high speed.
Geeky Tip: If the brown sugar is packed, break it up with a fork to help it incorporate better.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Beat in the egg until it is incorporated.
Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Mix in the pure vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by thirds, and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Geeky Tip: Overmixing will build up the gluten and protein structure in the dough and lead to a tougher and denser cookie.
Using a #24 cookie scoop (2 1/2 tablespoons), make scoops of dough, and form them into balls with your hands.
Geeky Tip: Rolling them into balls helps them have a more uniformly circular shape during baking.
Roll the balls in the sugar to coat them.
Evenly space the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet.
Bake on the oven’s center rack for 13-15 minutes. If making smaller scoops, you may need to reduce the baking time by a couple minutes. Remove the cookies as soon as the edges of the cookies just start to turn golden. You want to keep the color of the cookies a uniform butter color.
After baking, place the sheet on a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
Storage
To store the cookies, put them in an airtight container with a slice of fresh plain bread. The bread helps to keep the cookies from going stale. They can be stored at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (226 grams or 1 cup) of unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 300 grams (1 ½ cups) of white granulated sugar
- 104 grams (½ cup, packed) of light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
- 384 grams (3 cups) of all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon of salt
- 50 grams (¼ cup) of white granulated sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small pieces to help it come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Put the 50 grams (¼ cup) of white granulated sugar for rolling into a bowl. Set it aside.
- Fully whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside.
- Beat the butter until it has a smooth appearance. About 1 minute on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the white sugar into the butter, and cream together until lighter in color and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the brown sugar, and cream together until fully incorporated. About 1 minute on medium-high speed. Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time until they are incorporated. Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix in the pure vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by halves, and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Using a #24 cookie scoop (2 1/2 tablespoons), make scoops of dough, and form them into balls with your hands.
- Roll the balls in the sugar to coat them.
- Evenly space the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet.
- Bake on the oven’s center rack for 13-15 minutes. If making smaller scoops, you may need to reduce the baking time by a couple minutes. Remove the cookies as soon as the edges of the cookies just start to turn golden. You want to keep the color of the cookies a uniform butter color. After baking, place the sheet on a wire rack to cool.
Notes
To store the cookies, put them in an airtight container with a slice of fresh plain bread. The bread helps to keep the cookies from going stale. They can be stored at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.