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Paula Deen's Sugar Cookies

Recipe for Paul Deen's Sugar Cookies, written in my own words. This is the recipe for making the cookies themselves. Feel free to use you favorite frosting or icing to finish them.
Course Cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Sugar cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Resting Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 40 minutes
Author Eric Samuelson

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • 2 sticks butter room temperature
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar

Instructions

  • Place the powdered sugar and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together until well combined.
  • Add in the vanilla extract and egg. Mix to combine.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Mix well to combine.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Mix until the dough just comes together. Dough may look dry, don't worry that is expected.
  • Form the dough into a ball. Cut the dough in half. Wrap in plastic and place in the fridge overnight or for at least 2-3 hours

Baking the cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  • Remove the dough from the fridge about 30-60 minutes before rolling out. If the dough is too hard when you try to roll it out, wait until it has soften enough to roll.
  • Roll the dough to a thickness between ¼ and ½ inches. ½ inch thickness will make less cookies but they will be the softest.
  • Using a floured cookie cutter, cut your cookies out and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan. About 6-8 cookies per pan; don't let them touch.
  • Bake for 9 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of your cookies. For soft cookies they should be set on the edges but not brown yet or just barely turning brown. For crispier cookies, let them brown along the edge. For burnt cookies, let them brown all over!
  • Cool on the sheet pan for a few minutes before attempting to move to a cooling rack to roll all the way.
  • Add your favorite icing or frosting if desired.

Notes

While we don't recommend almond extract, if you like, the you can add 1 teaspoon of it to the batter. You also could use lemon or orange extract. Or a drop or two of orange or lemon essential oil.