Glazed Sugar Cookies

Forget the fancy pies and layered cakes. When it comes to holiday desserts, all I really want is a rich, buttery sugar cookie. To me, there is nothing more festive or delicious.

This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe. It's from Bon Appetit, which gives it automatic street cred. These cookies are soft and tender and not overly sweet (that's what the glaze is for!). However, if you're looking for a dough to roll out with your favorite Santa-shaped cookie cutter, this isn't it. It's possible it was just us, but my friend Crystal and I had a really hard time shaping this dough with cookie cutters. So we went with simple circles and pretended they were ornaments!

 

Sugar Cookies (originally printed in Bon Appetit)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

Beat the first four ingredients until well blended. Mix in egg and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, then mix in. Cover mixture and chill until firm, about 30 minutes or up to one day.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter two baking sheets. Roll into balls and place on prepared sheet.

Once cookies have cooled, it's time to brush on your glaze. This icing is perfect--it tastes great and dries to a nice shiny finish. Mix up a batch, then separate into cups and add food coloring. I used wide craft brushes to apply the glaze.

Cookie Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

 2 tsp water or milk

2 tsp corn syrup

 1/4 tsp almond extract

I don't know about you, but I try not to futz around too much with decorating. A few simple dots and shapes does the job for me. I don't have any piping gear on hand, so I picked up these condiment dispensers at the dollar store. I'm thinking of auditioning for Top Chef: Desserts next season with these decorating skills!

 

Happy Baking! Check back tomorrow for another cookie recipe...