Soft Sugar Cookies & 17 Days of Cookies

Break out the Santa hats and green and red M&M’s… it’s December!

I’m way too excited about what’s in store here over the next few weeks, so I’m just going to cut to the chase… to celebrate the season, from now until Christmas, I’m going to post a cookie recipe every weekday! If you don’t have a calendar handy, that translates to 17 days. I know. There’s a good chance I was either on running high or sugar high when I made this decision. 🙂

My ~~only~~ favorite big brother claims Christmas actually has something to do with religion, but I don’t care what he says, Christmas is all about cookies in Little Bitty Bakes Land. 😉

You know I’ve got Buddy the Elf to back me up on that… and probably Kevin McAllister too, as long as there’s ice cream involved. Don’t worry Kev, ice cream will be involved.

(source & source)

As if 17 days of cookies weren’t enough of a challenge, it gets better, because I’ve decided each recipe in this little adventure will be made from the same base cookie dough. I figure if we start with a base cookie dough and work from there, we can make all sorts of cookies without ever getting too exhausted. We don’t want to lose that holiday spirit now, do we? Yayyy, this is going to be fun!!

Let’s get things started with these soft sugar cookies. This is the base dough I was talking about. I’m pretty sure these are going to be your new favorite sugar cookies. In fact, I wouldn’t be offended if you just quadrupled the recipe below, grabbed a tub of frosting, and laughed at me as I attempt 16 spins on this dough… just don’t tell me you did that until I’m done. 😉

[print_this]Soft Sugar Cookies

No chilling or rolling needed for these easy, soft and chewy sugar cookies! Brown the butter the night before to save time, or just use regular softened butter if you’re really in a pinch.

Makes 3 dozen

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes per cookie sheet (~3 cookie sheets)

1/4 cup granulated sugar, sanding sugar, or sprinkles
1 cup browned butter, softened (instructions follow) or regular unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Set the sugar or sprinkles into a shallow dish; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixed. In the same bowl, add the baking powder and salt and beat until mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at at time, and beat on medium speed until mixed well.

Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll each ball in the sugar/sprinkle mixture to coat completely. Place two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Allow to cool 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets and setting onto wire racks to cool completely.[/print_this]

[print_this]How to Make Browned Butter

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cut the butter into 1-tablespoon pats.
Add the butter to the pan, stirring constantly. The butter will foam, and then reduce; continue stirring until you start to notice the butter turn a brown color, with a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat and pour the butter into a heatproof dish or container to cool.
Note: For cookie recipes, I allow the browned butter to cool completely, back to a solid state. Because of this, I’ll often make browned butter the night before I plan to make cookies.[/print_this]