Maria’s Favorite Sugar Cookies

These cookies are fantastic! I recieved this recipe 15 years ago from one of the best cooks in my home town. These soft and delicious sugar cookies are the only ones I make now. They remind me of the kind you buy at the store with the thick frosting on top. You know, the ones they have for every holiday frosted with the appropriate frosting colors. This recipe taste like those, only better.

P.S. This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies. The cooked cookies freeze un-frosted really well, so if you want to kill two birds with one stone, bust out your four leaf clover cookie cutter and do half hearts, half clovers. Freeze the clovers and your all set for St. Patty’s day too. OR……you can just half the recipe.

Maria’s Favorite Sugar Cookies

1 cup shortening (I use butter flavored)

1-1/4 cup white sugar

1 cup karo syrup or honey

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream (the original recipe calls for 1 cup milk, but I like substituting 1/2 cup sour cream. If you don’t have sour cream just use milk. They will still be delicious.)

1 tsp soda

8 tsp baking powder (yes I mean 8 tsp)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract (you can use lemon if you like a lemon flavored cookie)

8 cups of flour (don’t try using wheat flour-It will ruin them!)

Cream sugar, shortening and karo.

Mix in egg until well blended.

Add milk and sour cream.

To that mixture add soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Mix well.

Add flour and mix until well blended, but don’t over mix.

On a lightly floured surface roll dough out between 1/4 inch and 1/3 inch thick (If you do it too thin they won’t be as soft and delicious-so be careful). Cut into desired shapes and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 425° for 4-6 minutes. The trick with these cookies is to not over cook them. They should still look pretty white when you take them out. In my oven they only take 4 1/2 minutes.  Make sure you check them at 4 minutes, they might be done.

The bottom of the cookie should be light. If you have a stone baking sheet it will help cook the cookie more evenly, but metal sheets are fine too, just watch the cookies closely.

DO NOT REFRIGERATE THE DOUGH BEFORE COOKING. It will dry it out and your cookies won’t be as moist.  Most sugar cookie recipes tell you to refrigerate the dough. This one is NOT like that.

These cookies taste great with butter cream frosting and our family likes to put in a little almond flavored extract instead of vanilla to give them a special flavor. Okay, so maybe it is just me that likes the almond flavoring-you make it, you get to pick the flavoring:). Store the frosted cookies in an airtight container. The cookies will be even more delicious and soft the next day. Enjoy.

Butter Cream Frosting

1 cube softened butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla or 1/2 tsp almond extract

pinch of salt

4-6 TBSP evaporated milk

Combine everything except evaporated milk using a hand mixer. Slowly add the evaporated milk until desired consistency. Use food coloring to get desired color.

Shared this post on Blessed with Grace’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday,