Sugar Cookies : Attempt # 1!

So after many days of research I finally decided to test my luck at sugar cookies. I actually made them a couple of days ago but i had not had the chance to post..so here goes.

After researching many recipes I founf one that seemed to be used by almost everuone. Many blogs such as Cookie Madness, Mel´s Sweet Treats, and others use this as their sugar cookie recipe. It is said to be similar to the cookies from Cookies by Design.

Here´s the recipe:

Sugar cookies-

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of one lemon Directions: Sift together flour and baking powder.
In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Stir in egg, salt, extract and lemon zest.

Slowly add flour mixture and stir until incorparated.
Form the dough into two disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll the dough onto a lighlty floured surface to 5/8" thick.

Cut the cookies into shapes. Refrigirate for 15 minutes.

Remove extra dough and place on parchment lined tray ( I didnt have parchment so I used aluminum).

I made two batches. The first one was made with dough that had cooled for one hour. When I took them out of the oven they seemed a little raw and way too soft so I put them back in at 275 degrees F for 3 minutes. This was a complete mistake. As you can see in the image below the cookies where way to brown at the edges and they were extremly crispy.

Another problem was that the cookies did not hold their shape well. I 1 hour of chilling did not work for me becuase the dough was very hard to work with when rolling out and I belive this influenced on the fact that the cookies did not hold their shape.

These are the second batch cookies before going into the oven.

You can see that these cookies were much better. the dough was chilled for 2 1/2 hours. Also I baked them for 12 minutes and although they looked to soft at first once they cooled they were just fine. They held their shape and the color was great, the bottoms were only lightly browned. The texture was also good, it was crumbly and soft but it held up well. As far as taste it was really good, it had a very strong lemon taste to it but it worked very well with the vanilla.

Store them in an airtigh container to keep them nice and fresh.

Rating: 7.5

Conclusion:

Overall I very much enjoyed these cookies and the taste was wonderful. They were alot better fresh and after about two days the taste wasn't as good as before. Even so my family really liked them.
This is just the beginning so look foward a post on the decoration of these cookies!