Soft Christmas Sugar Cookies

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aking sugar cookies with my kids, packaging them in neatly wrapped boxes and delivering them to the neighbors is as much a holiday tradition at my house as Santa Clause coming Christmas morning. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without flour-covered aprons and the crunch of sugar sprinkles lightly dusting the entire kitchen.

As a new mom, I often became frustrated at the imperfect cookies little hands would create. As the years pass my favorite, most cherished cookies are the unique cookies so covered with sprinkles you can hardly tell frosting is the adhering glue to the brightly colored sugar. This year as my son dug through my cookie cutter bin to create an entire zoo of cookies with complete disregard for the season I could only smile. Smile and hear my mothers voice in my head reminding me of how quickly they grow up.

So, if some of my neighbors receive a giraffe or elephant instead of a reindeer this holiday season, I will be content with the wisdom raising four children has given me. For you see, it is not about my friends and neighbors receiving perfectly impressive cookies. It is about the memories I created with Grayson, while he was still excited to bake with me…and who’s to say a giraffe cant pull a sleigh anyway.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 T. vanilla

3/4 cup sour cream

4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

*For a simple Buttercream… Click the link below!

https://sweeterthymes.com/2019/10/20/buttercream-frosting

Instructions:

1. Place soft, room temperature butter in mixer. Beat on high, scraping down sides of the bowl to insure all of the butter becomes light and fluffy. Beat until butter doubles in size.
2. Add the granulated sugar and beat until well mixed.
3. Add 2 eggs and beat on high until eggs thicken and add volume to mixture.
4. Add vanilla and sour cream. Beat just until incorporated.
5. In a separate bowl combine remaining dry ingredients. Once thoroughly mixed slowly add to the wet mixture. Beat on high scraping sides of bowl until all flour is incorporated into wet mixture. This dough will still look “sticky”…do not add additional flour
6. Scoop out dough and place in the bottom of a gallon-sized zip-lock bag. Refrigerate dough overnight. This dough is too soft to roll without being chilled at least 5 hours.
7. When you are ready to bake cookies, cut zip-lock bag down the sides and remove plastic. Place dough on a very lightly floured surface and knead until dough is malleable. Prepare a heavily floured surface by distributing flour evenly with a sifter.
8. Roll dough out to 1/3 inch thick and cut shapes. Toss cut shape between hands to knock off excess flour and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Do not re-roll scraps of dough. This incorporates too much flour into the dough and changes both the flavor and texture.
9. Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes or until edges start to show a golden color in an oven pre-heated to 375 degrees. You have under baked the cookies if when cooled they deflate and have a wrinkled skin on top.
10. Cool completely before frosting. Cookies may be frozen up to 6 months.