The Best Sugar Cookie Cake Food

SUGAR COOKIE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine butter, oil, sugars and vanilla until smooth. Blend in eggs.
• Add flour, salt, cream of tarter and baking soda until blended in.
• Press dough into a greased dish.
• Bake 20 minutes watching carefully as to not over bake.

THE BEST SUGAR COOKIES FOR DECORATING

Steps:

• For the dough: Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together the egg and vanilla in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Reduce the speed to low again and slowly pour in the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture, in 3 additions, increasing the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as needed. Once all the flour is just incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and bring it together. Divide into 2 even pieces. Shape each piece into a flat square and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or overnight.
• To roll, cut and bake the cookies: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Dust another sheet of parchment paper with flour and put 1 piece of the dough on top. Dust with more flour and top with another sheet of parchment. Roll the dough out between the parchment sheets into a square about 1/4-inch thick (about 11-by-9 inches) and place in the freezer for 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.
• From 1 piece of rolled dough, cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch cutter and arrange on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Refrigerate while you cut the remaining cookies. Reroll any scraps of dough and repeat the freezing, cutting and refrigerating process until all the dough is used.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheets front to back and bottom to top about halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets set on a wire cooling rack, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the royal icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water and the vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the icing forms thick and glossy peaks, about 2 minutes (adding up to 1 tablespoon more water, if needed). Tint with a few drops of food coloring as desired.
• Fit a pastry bag with a small round tip and fill it with the icing.
• Pipe royal icing on cookies with the design of your liking and let dry for 30 minutes.

SUGAR COOKIE MINI CAKES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the extracts and egg and mix to combine. Reduce the speed to low and then gradually add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Pour the dough out onto a clean work surface and give it a few kneads to bring it all together. Divide it in half, wrap half of it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it while you roll out the first half. (Alternatively, you can make the dough in advance, wrap all of it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.)
• Dust your work surface and a rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out 5 increasing sizes of circles, 1 1/2 inches to 3 inches, and use a small offset spatula to transfer them to a baking sheet, 1-inch apart. Re-roll the scraps and repeat with the remaining half of the dough. Bake until the bottoms are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the frosting: In a large bowl with an electric mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter until soft and creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix to combine. Mix in the extracts and salt. Add food coloring if desired.
• To assemble: Transfer the frosting to a piping bag. Stack up the circles, largest on the bottom, with a thin layer of frosting between them and decorate with sprinkles as desired.

THE BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

SOUR CREAM SUGAR COOKIE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating after each addition just until combined. Spread into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan., Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Spread frosting over top. Decorate with optional toppings as desired.

EASY SUGAR COOKIE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper in the bottom and baking spray on the sides. Set aside.
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugars together in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. You should be able to see the change in color and texture and know it's ready.
• Add the egg and mix until well combined.
• Add the vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until the dough is just well combined. Do not over mix. Once it's well combined, use a rubber spatula to help it come together to form a more cohesive ball.
• Press the cookie dough evenly into the cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn golden.
• Allow to cool completely in the pan. It will firm up as it cools.
• Once cool, quickly invert the cookie onto a cooling rack. Quickly place another cooling rack on the bottom of the cookie (which is now facing up) and invert again, so that the cookie cake is upright.
• To make the buttercream, add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
• Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
• Add the vanilla extract and a tablespoon of cream or water and mix until well combined and smooth.
• Add the rest of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add more cream or water to get the right consistency.
• Place the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a piping tip (I used Ateco 847) and pipe shells of frosting around the outer edge of the cake.

THE BEST SUGAR COOKIE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If butter hasn't been softened you can place in microwave for 10 seconds to *slightly* soften it.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed for 20-30 seconds; do not overbeat. While mixer is still on medium speed, add in egg, vanilla and almond extract.
• Once mixed, add in baking powder, salt, and flour (1/2 cup at a time). Be sure to measure your flour properly using the spoon & level method, as adding too much can result in dry bars. Mix until all flour disappears, typically 20-30 seconds.
• Spray a round metal 12" cookie cake pan with cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper (having the grease underneath the paper will help the paper stay down).
• Drop the dough into 1 tablespoon sized chunks into the prepared pan. Use your hands or a spatula to press down the dough until it covers the pan and is smooth around the edges.Tip: If the dough is sticky, you can place another piece of parchment paper on top and continue pressing down.
• Bake cookie cake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes until edges are lightly browned. The trick to a soft sugar cookie cake is to take it out right when you see the TINIEST amount of brown around the edges. The center may look underdone and this is okay; the cake will continue to bake in the hot pan when cooling.
• Allow to cool completely before frosting (you can put the pan in the fridge on a cooling rack to speed this up).

BASIC SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl; set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture in 2 batches until just incorporated. Divide between 2 pieces of plastic wrap; shape into disks. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough on a floured surface until about inch thick. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters; arrange 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. (If the dough becomes soft, refrigerate until firm.) Refrigerate the cookies 30 minutes. Gather the scraps and refrigerate until firm; reroll and cut out more cookies.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake, switching the pans halfway through, until the cookies are slightly puffed and just golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then remove to racks to cool completely before icing.
• Basic Royal Icing
• Whisk one 1-pound box confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 5 tablespoons water and beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, adding up to 1 more tablespoon water if necessary. If not using the icing right away, cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. (Makes about 2 1/4 cups.)
• Decorating Instructions:
• Striped:Spread royal icing on the cookie using a small offset spatula. Let set slightly, then dip a wooden skewer in tinted icing to draw stripes.
• Pearled: Spread royal icing on the cookie using a small offset spatula. Let set slightly, then place sugar pearls around the edges.
• Windowpane: Spread tinted royal icing on the cookie using a small offset spatula. Let set slightly, then dip a wooden skewer in white icing to draw crisscross lines.
• Ombre: Tint half of the royal icing, then mix one-third of the tinted icing with one-third of the white icing. Spread the 3 shades on the cookie from dark to light, blending the sections.
• Floral: Spread royal icing on the cookie using a small offset spatula. Dip a wooden skewer in different colors of tinted icing to draw dots for flowers. Photograph by Jeff Harris/Studio D

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk for 4 mins until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla. Whisk in the cornflour and plain flour until the mixture comes together into a dough. Put the dough between two pieces of baking parchment, and roll out to a 6mm thickness using a rolling pin. Chill for 30 mins.
• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Peel the top layer of parchment off the dough and stamp out circles using a 6cm round cutter (or the shape of your choice). Re-roll any offcuts and continue stamping out rounds until all the dough is used. Transfer the cookies to a second large baking sheet lined with baking parchment, spacing them 2cm apart (you may need two sheets). Bake for 7-10 mins. Leave to cool on the sheet for 15 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container for one week.