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soft christmas sugar cookies

(4 ratings)
Blue Ribbon Recipe by
Kathy Joppie
Nashville, MI

These cookies are very special to me as my grandmother gave me the recipe in 1974. She would have been 101 years old this year. Grandma used to give these cookies as Christmas gifts to all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She would begin baking in November and freeze them in order to have enough ready for Christmas.

Blue Ribbon Recipe

These sugar cookies really are the perfect cookie for the holidays. They puff up a little while baking, almost like a cake. Buttermilk gives the cookie a different texture and flavor than other sugar cookies. The cookie itself isn't overly sweet and is delicious on its own, but we topped some with sugar and others with this easy homemade buttercream recipe. Both options were good, so it just depends on how sweet you want the sugar cookies. Simply delicious!

— The Test Kitchen @kitchencrew
(4 ratings)
yield 3 -4 Dozen
prep time 20 Min
cook time 10 Min
method Bake

Ingredients For soft christmas sugar cookies

  • 1 1/8 c
    Crisco (do not substitute) - recipe says a "good" cup
  • 1 1/2 c
    sugar
  • 2 md
    eggs
  • 1 tsp
    vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 c
    all-purpose flour (may need up to 4 cups), plus more for dusting
  • 1/2 tsp
    salt
  • 2 tsp
    baking powder
  • 1 tsp
    baking soda
  • 1 c
    buttermilk

How To Make soft christmas sugar cookies

Test Kitchen Tips
We definitely needed all 4 cups of flour and the dough was still sticky. We opted to use a biscuit cutter to cut out the cookies for a pretty edge.
  • Mixing shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl.
    1
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add the shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla to a large bowl. Beat together with a mixer.
  • Mixing flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in another bowl.
    2
    In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
  • Mixing buttermilk into the batter.
    3
    Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk (a little at a time) to the creamed sugar mixture until completely mixed. The dough will be fairly sticky.
  • Dough scooped out onto a floured board.
    4
    Generously flour a board. Scoop out smaller portions of the dough.
  • Patting out the dough.
    5
    Pat the dough out with your hand to a 1/4-1/2-inch thickness.
  • Cutting out the cookies.
    6
    Flour a cookie cutter, cut, and place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a round jelly glass to cut out the cookies.)
  • Sugar sprinkled cookies in the oven.
    7
    Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
  • Cookies decorated with sugar and frosting.
    8
    NOTE: You can decorate with colored sugars or sprinkles, place a nut or raisin in the center of the cookie before baking, or frost after cooling.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGaO9EE2FFM
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