Nytimes Sugar Cookie Food

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, and beat until everything is well combined, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
• Add dry ingredients all at once, and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
• Scrape dough out of bowl and divide it in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 5 days.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough, one disk at a time, on lightly floured parchment paper or work surface until it's about 1/8 inch thick. Create shapes, using a lightly floured cookie cutter. (Alternatively, using a knife, cut the dough into squares, rectangles or diamonds.) If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any dough scraps and combine them into a disk. Roll and repeat the cookie-cutting process, chilling as necessary.
• Place shapes onto parchment-lined baking sheets 1 inch apart and bake until cookie edges are lightly browned with sandy, pale centers, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Cool the cookies on a rack, if you have one. Otherwise, let them cool on the pan. Decorate with a glaze, royal icing, frosting, glitter, food-grade luster dust or whatever you'd like. Don't forget the sprinkles.

CUTOUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine sugar and butter in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Using the paddle attachment of the mixer, or a wooden spoon if you are doing this by hand, blend butter and sugar until no granules of sugar show. Lightly stir in salt, egg and vanilla.
• Stir in flour in thirds. Add just enough to make a dough that forms a mass and that is very soft but not sticky. It should be pale yellow in color.
• Gather dough in a ball, wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour, and preferably 3 or 4 hours or overnight.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll chilled dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Dust rolling pin and dough with cake flour as needed. Using cookie cutters, make shapes and transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie. The bottoms should be just beginning to turn golden. If they're brown, you've cooked the batch too long.
• Transfer cookies to cooling rack. Let cool completely, then decorate with icing, sprinkles and dusting sugars.

CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with silicone baking sheets or parchment paper.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar at medium speed, about 3 to 5 minutes. (The mixture needn't be fluffy.) Scrape down the sides with a silicone spatula and mix in the eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Combine well. Scrape down the sides and stir in the cocoa until well blended. Add the flour, and mix until the flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together into a ball. At this point, you can refrigerate the dough up to 2 days or freeze it up to 3 months, tightly wrapped in plastic. (The dough will seem soft, but that's O.K. If you are going to roll out the cookies and bake them immediately, mix in the other 1/2 cup of flour.)
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes, rerolling dough scraps as necessary and arranging shapes 1/4 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Smaller shapes will cook more quickly. Because these are chocolate, it can be hard to determine when they are done. Err on the side of underbaking. You can tell the cookies are ready when the surface changes from wet- or glossy-looking to dry. Remove cookies to a rack and allow them to cool completely before decorating.

HOW TO MAKE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• For the best cookies, getting the proper thickness is key. Too thin, and the cookies will turn into crackers. Too thick, and they'll be doughy. Here are tips to help you roll the dough to just the right depth, and to cut cookies that will give you a world of decorating options.• First, make some space. Rolling out dough takes up a bit of space, so clear off those countertops before you begin. • Use parchment paper for rolling for best results (though a well-floured work surface will also work). To roll out the dough, you'll want to lightly dust a large piece of parchment paper with flour. Roll out the dough until it starts to stick a bit to the parchment, then lightly dust the top of the dough with a bit more flour and cover it with another piece of parchment. Flip the whole thing over, peeling off the bottom piece (and saving it so you can repeat this process). • Keep an eye on the thickness of the dough. You want it to be about the thickness of a graham cracker, or, if you have a ruler handy, no thinner than an eighth of an inch. Don't worry about making it a perfect circle or rectangle. • Cold is best. Regardless of the shape you're cutting out, or the method you're using (by hand, with a cutter, glass jar), you'll want the dough to be chilled. If it gets too warm and flimsy, it'll be challenging to cut out clean shapes and move. Put the dough back into the fridge to firm up if it starts to soften. • A cute cutter does not always make a cute cookie. No matter how appealing the wide range of cutters may be, there are some that don't actually make great cookies. In particular, avoid shapes with small, delicate features. Those smaller parts of dough are doomed to tragedy: getting stuck in the cutters, burning before the rest of the cookie is baked through, or just breaking off. And they're challenging to decorate. • Broad cookies make better canvases. Shapes with a lot of surface area (circles, triangles, diamonds, stars) yield the greatest success. They bake more evenly and offer multiple decorating options.• No cookie cutters? A wide-mouth glass jar or cup will do the trick. Or use a knife to cut diamonds (as seen above), squares or rectangles. • Cut as many cookies as you can. When it's time to cut, dip the cutters in flour to prevent sticking, and cut the shapes as close to one another as possible to maximize your dough. • But don't go too far. Gather any scraps and reroll the dough, but no more than twice. After that, the dough will become overworked and tough.
• The pristine white finish of royal icing is particularly elegant, and striking in its simplicity. But everything is a little more fun in color. Tint it with food coloring, use it like glue for sprinkles and dragées, or paint it directly onto hardened icing.For colored icing, make a batch of white royal icing, and divide it into smaller bowls. (One batch can yield up to three different colors.) Using a spoon or fork, mix in food coloring until you reach your desired shade. Cover with plastic wrap, with the cling film pressed directly on the surface, until you're ready to use it. For deep hues, you'll need more food coloring than you think. Depending on the intensity, it's possible to use half a bottle. Keep in mind that traditional food coloring contains a lot of liquid, so adding enough for that vibrant red can alter the viscosity of the icing. To preserve the consistency, add little to no water when making the icing, using the food coloring as the thinning liquid. Gel food coloring can be a game changer here. (Betty Crocker makes some, but they are also widely available on Amazon.com and at professional baking stores.) The color is more concentrated, and it contains virtually no liquid. So a little will go a long way, and adding a lot won't affect the viscosity. To apply icing, you can use any large reusable or disposable pastry bag (at least 10 inches long), with a small metal tip for precision. A tip with a round 1/16-inch opening is best for more detailed designs, but for most purposes, one with a standard 1/8 inch opening will serve you well. If you're a once-a-year baker, a resealable plastic bag with a small (1/16-inch) hole cut out of the corner will do the trick. To ensure all the icing gets in (and not on) the bag, insert the bag, tip facing down, into a tall glass, and fold the top down over the glass. Alternatively, hold the bag with your less-dominant hand, and fold the top over your fingers. Spoon the icing into the bag, filling it about halfway. Be careful not to overfill the pastry bag, or the icing will spill out of the top. Pull up the top of the bag, and twist it where the icing meets the bag to close it off.
• Here are the techniques that elevate a simple sugar cookie to the spectacular. Piping and flooding can take a little practice, so take your time and consider making double batch of icing. And remember: extra sprinkles and dragées conceal all flaws.You can use the icing bag like a pen to draw lines, swirls or any other designs that are as simple or complex as you like. To pipe, hold the tip of the bag 1/4 inch above the cookie and about 1/8-inch away from the edge. The icing should be runny enough that you should not need to apply too much pressure, but it may be useful to practice on a plate or piece of parchment paper beforehand. If there are air bubbles in the pastry bag, a few gaps in the line could appear when you are piping. You can always quickly fill them in - just make sure to do so before the icing sets. To create a smooth, evenly frosted appearance, you'll want to "flood," or fill, the surface of the cookie with icing. While a pristine white coating can be striking in its simplicity, fresh icing can serve as a glue for sprinkles, edible glitter or colorful sugars. Alternatively, it can be left to dry until hardened and used as a canvas for painting. To begin flooding, trace the outline of the cookie you're decorating. This will serve as a sort of barrier: Think of this as a line you're going to color inside of. With the pastry bag, start on the outside and work inward, filling in the space as you go. The icing should spread a bit to fill in any gaps. If you spill a little over the side of the cookie, use a paper towel to clean the edges before the icing sets, which can happen rather quickly. For a more rustic (and kid-friendly) appearance, you can always forego the pastry bag and spoon icing directly onto the cookie. Dollop some in the center, and using the back of spoon, spread the icing out to the edges, almost as if you're saucing a small pizza.For a more modern, slightly neater approach to colorful decorations, try painting directly onto the surface of an iced cookie. No fancy skills required: If you've ever painted anything, you can paint a cookie. Pick up some edible glitter or luster dust from a professional baking store. Mix a small amount of the glitter or luster dust with a neutral spirit like vodka until it reaches the consistency of watercolor paint. Dip a small paintbrush into the mixture and paint directly onto a flooded cookie using swift, one-stroke motions. Start with something simple like stripes or dots, then graduate to more complex designs.
• If piping an intricate design falls outside your wheelhouse, there are other options that are equally festive. Sprinkles and dragées provide all the holiday cheer you can imagine, while a simple dusting of sugar or cocoa is a lovely, low-maintenance possibility.Once cookies are decorated, they can be kept in an airtight container between layers of parchment (as padding and protection) for up to three days. Sprinkles and Dragées Sprinkles can be applied to raw dough before baking or used on just-iced cookies. Dragées, or oversize sprinkles that look like beads, can be applied only onto fresh icing. Decorative Sugars Sprinkling cookie dough with sanding sugar before baking is a great way to add color and crunch. It's coarser than regular granulated sugar, and won't melt once baked. Pearl sugar (which resembles pretzel salt) or Demerara sugar (similar in flavor to brown sugar, but with larger crystals) can also be used before baking, or sprinkled onto fresh icing. Chocolate Dip baked cookies in melted chocolate (no need to temper it), then sprinkle them with flaky salt, sprinkles or chopped toasted nuts before storing them in the fridge. Cocoa and Powdered Sugar Dusting baked cookies with powdered sugar or cocoa powder (or both) can be a less-is-more approach, and great for any last-minute decorating needs.
• These recipes are all basic variations on the master sugar cookie dough. With a few adjustments, you can get wildly different (and delicious) results.Lightly spiced, jam-filled linzer cookies (a smaller version of the classic linzer torte) are a traditional sandwich cookie with a tender texture and subtle nutty flavor that comes from finely ground almonds in the dough. As with sugar cookies, which benefit from the addition of frosting, the dough for a linzer does not need to be too sweet: It's filled with a tangy raspberry jam and finished with plenty of powdered sugar. A hole in the top of the cookie gives the signature stained-glass-window effect, making it one of the most effortless and impressive treats you could make this holiday season. Recipe: Linzer CookiesThe salted cocoa-hazelnut cookies are a classic slice-and-bake cookie, ripe for improvisation. Not into hazelnuts? Pistachios, almonds, even chocolate chunks are great here. Don't worry too much about getting the perfect cylindrical log; the dough should even out most imperfections as it bakes. Recipe: Salted Cocoa-Hazelnut CookiesOur basic dough recipe makes for an excellent spritz cookie. Load a cookie press (think of a caulking machine, but with cookie dough) with dough straight after mixing (no need to chill) and push out a desired shape onto parchment paper. Recipe: Spritz CookiesThink of these ginger-molasses cookies as a cross between a gingerbread man and a chewy molasses cookie. The molasses gives them a softer texture with a decidedly adult, almost caramel flavor. Instead of rolling or slicing these cookies, this rich, soft dough is perfect for rolling into balls and coating in coarse sugar before baking. Recipe: Ginger-Molasses Cookies

SUGAR COOKIE BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, running it up the two long sides of the pan and letting it extend past the rim by about 2 inches.
• Make the bars: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed just until blended, about 1 minute.
• Using a spatula, scrape the dough into the prepared baking pan and spread it into an even layer. Bake just until the edges are starting to turn light golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the middle has moist crumbs, 20 to 25 minutes. (Do not overbake! The bars should be quite moist, and almost slightly underbaked in the middle.) Remove the pan from the oven and set it on a wire rack. Let cool completely. When fully cooled, remove the bars from the pan using the overhanging parchment paper.
• Make the frosting: Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add 1 cup confectioners' sugar, beating on low speed until fully combined, then repeat with remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Add the 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, the vanilla, salt and food coloring, if using, and beat on medium speed until the frosting is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides halfway through, about 4 minutes. Add more milk if needed to thin out the mixture. Add lemon juice and vanilla to taste.
• Using a spatula, spread the frosting on top, then decorate with sprinkles, if using. Cut into 20 bars and serve.

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. Grease 2 cookie sheets with 1 tablespoon of the butter or line sheets with parchment paper. Cream the remaining butter. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until blended. Add the egg, vanilla, lemon rind and milk. Add the flour mixture all at once and beat until smooth.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. Bake until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

CHEWY EARL GREY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees and line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Put 1/2 cup/100 grams granulated sugar in a small bowl or shallow dish and set aside.
• Combine the butter and tea leaves in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Melt the butter, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to sizzle around the edges. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
• Add the tea butter to a large bowl, then add brown sugar, salt, orange zest and remaining ¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar. Use an electric mixer on medium speed or a whisk to combine for about 30 seconds; the mixture will be grainy and separated. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix until combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
• Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl, and mix on low speed or with a rubber spatula until just combined. Use the spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure the dough is evenly mixed.
• Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookies. Alternatively, measure 2 tablespoons of dough with a measuring spoon. Roll each dough ball in the reserved granulated sugar, then place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart.
• Bake the cookies until set, light golden around and crackled on top, 16 to 19 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back in the oven halfway through the baking time. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets. Store extra cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or for a few weeks in the freezer.