It’s no secret that the building blocks of American baking are flour, sugar, and butter. Even in the simplest recipes, when these three elements combine, magic happens — especially in the form of tender sugar cookies.
What makes a sugar cookie a sugar cookie? It all has to do with the ratio of flour, sugar and butter. For our butter cookie tutorial, we explained that butter cookies have a high butter content to the sugar and flour. Sugar cookies, on the other hand, have a higher ratio of flour to butter, which makes this a very resilient dough for rolling out and cutting into shapes.
The first record of rolled-out sugar cookies in the U.S. dates back to the mid-18th century in Pennsylvania. The Protestant settlers there rolled out sugar cookie dough and cut it into keystone shapes, which represent the state symbol. Since then, sugar cookies have become a treat the whole nation enjoys, particularly during the holidays, cut into fun shapes and iced to perfection. (Sugar cookies are sometimes baked by the drop-cookie method, with balls of dough placed on a sheet pan and baked into simple round cookies.) Sadly, even the most enthusiastic home baker can be intimidated by rolling out, cutting, baking, and decorating sugar cookies. But like all skills, the ability to make knockout sugar cookies that look and taste great is one that requires practice.
It also helps to start with a leg up: here, we offer several tips to help you master sugar cookies for your next special occasion. Wash those cookie cutters, gather your ingredients, and get ready to roll.
If you’ve read the other 12 Recipes to Master, you’ve noticed a theme in our tips: buy the best! Especially when you’re cooking or baking with just a handful of ingredients, there’s nowhere for less-than-optimal ingredients to hide.
Salted butter usually contains more water than unsalted butter. Excess water prohibits the proper development of gluten, making sugar cookie dough too sticky, or causing rolled-out shapes to distort. If you like a saltier dough, just use unsalted butter and add salt to taste.
The biggest difference between sugar cookies and butter cookies is that sugar cookies are often rolled thin and cut out using cookie cutters. While butter cookies will hold their shape while baking, the dough is much softer and for best results should be piped onto a baking sheet and then baked.
Use a thickness guide.
Rolling cookie dough out to a 1/4” thickness produces a substantial, sturdy cookie. If you don’t have a ruler handy, use this shortcut: your pinky is about 1/4” thick, from pad to fingernail.
Organize your shapes on the sheet pan.
If you’re baking up several shapes, gather the small shapes on one pan and the larger shapes on another. This way, you can remove the pan with smaller shapes as they will be ready before the larger ones.
Whether you prefer a pale or a golden-edged cookie, the difference between them can be less than one minute in the oven. Stay on top of the timer and keep the oven light on as you bake.
What are the differences between a shortbread cookie and a sugar cookie 2021?
FAQ
Are sugar cookies the same as butter cookies?
What is the difference between a butter cookie and a shortbread cookie?
Why is butter better for cookies?
What is the difference between butter cookies and sugar cookies?
The big difference between the two is that the butter cookies have a higher butter to flour ratio. Both cookies can be made very similarly and shaped depending on the recipe, but butter cookies have the added fats making them taste richer. What butter is best for sugar cookies? You can salted or unsalted butter for cookie recipes if you prefer.
What is the difference between margarine and butter?
The difference between margarine and butter is that margarine is made from the hydrogenation of vegetable oil and has trans fats. Butter is made from animal fat and has large amounts of saturated fat.
What are butter sugar cookies?
All Butter Sugar Cookies are soft & sweet cookies topped with a buttery vanilla frosting. Easy sugar cookie recipe made with simple pantry ingredients that yields about a dozen cookies. These butter sugar cookies are a rich tasting soft and chewy cookie you’re going to want for every occasion.
What are butter cookies?
Butter cookies are Danish cookies made from sugar, flour, and butter. Their origin differs from shortbread cookies, but their ingredients are fairly similar. The main difference is the ratios of their components.