Best Sugar Cookie Recipes

Come Christmas and the smell of the cookies would spread throughout the neighborhood. Be it our moms or grandmoms, the women of the house would be busy making cookies during Christmas. However, these crunchy, delicious sweet biscuits have become such a favorite with every American that they are now made any time of the year and everyone is keen to know about the best sugar cookie recipes ever! What is more exciting about cookies is that they can be cut into any shape and decorated with sprinkles and frosting. So what are you waiting for? Scroll down for some of the most sumptuous sugar cookie recipes!

Making Sugar Cookies

Recipe # 1

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour - 3½ cup
• Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
• Unsalted, softened butter - 1 cup
• White sugar (granulated) - 1½ cup
• Salt - ¼ teaspoon
• Pure vanilla extract - 2 teaspoons
• Eggs - 2

Procedure

Add flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix them well. Set the bowl with the flour mixture aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat it for about 3 to 4 minutes, till the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Now add egg and vanilla mixture and beat it further to mix all the ingredients well. Now add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat it well. Ensure that you have a smooth dough.

Divide the dough into two parts. Wrap each in waxed paper and refrigerate it for an hour and a half. The dough must be firm enough to be rolled easily. If need be, refrigerate it for another half an hour.

Spread some flour on the working surface. Take each ball of dough at a time and roll it out on the working surface with a rolling pin. Ensure that the rolled out layer of dough is about ¼ of an inch in thickness. Make sure that the dough does not stick to the working surface. Cut pieces of dough out from the dough sheet using cookie cutters. Place each of these pieces on a baking sheet and put it in refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes. This is to ensure that the cookies retain their shape when they are baked.

Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Place the rack in the center of the oven and bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, till they are firm and brown around the edges. Now let the cookies cool on a wire rack. Then, decorate them as you wish. In case you do not want to frost the cookies, sprinkle some colored sugar or candies before baking them. That's all! Your crispy sugar cookies are ready to serve.

Recipe # 2

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour - 4 cups
• Unsalted, softened butter - 1½ cups
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Salt - ½ teaspoon
• Egg - 1
• Lemon extract - 2½ teaspoons
• Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Procedure

Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until the mixture is fluffy. Then add egg, lemon, salt and vanilla extract to it. Blend it thoroughly till all the ingredients mix well. Keep the mixer on low speed and add the flour in two parts ensuring that it mixes properly with the mixture. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Wrap each ball of dough separately in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll one part of the dough at a time, so that the dough sheet is ¼ inch thick. Cut out the dough pieces in the shapes you desire. Put these pieces on plain cookie sheets. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes in an oven that has been preheated to 350ºFahrenheit. This recipe will yield almost 60 to 70 cookies.

Recipe # 3

Ingredients

• Flour - 2½ cups
• Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
• Milk - ½ cup
• Canola oil - ½ cup
• Almond flavoring - 1 teaspoon
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Salt - ½ teaspoon
• Nutmeg powder - ¼ teaspoon
• Egg - 1

Procedure

In a bowl, add sugar, egg, butter and Canola oil, and cream the mixture well. Add almond flavoring and mix it thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix baking soda and milk and add it to the creamed mixture. Sieve the flour, nutmeg powder and salt together and add it to the mixture. Now place spoonfuls of the mixture on a greased cookie sheet and flatten them. Decorate the cookie with cookie decorating items. Bake the cookies in an oven that has been pre-heated to 350ºF till they are golden brown. Cool the cookies on a wire rack and serve.

It is difficult to decide which is the best recipe for making sugar cookies because there are so many different types of them. Whatever the variety, sugar cookies have been and will be an all time favorite sweet!