How to Make the Best Sugar Cookies for Christmas Gifts – Recipe
In the US, different types of chewy, thick, and customizable cookies are part of almost every celebration. So, how can you figure out which one is the best? You’re about to find out…
In the UK, we don’t usually have cookies for Christmas, except for the occasional tin of shortbread eaten during a low moment in January. But in the US, cookies are very important and even a bit competitive. Inspired by German and Scandinavian traditions like plätzchen and lebkuchen, the American holiday cookie platter, as food writer Tim Mazurek from Chicago explains, is “a big variety where butter cookies shaped like angels are mixed with rugelach and rum balls. The cookie platter doesn’t care about your religion, or whether you have one. It welcomes everyone and promises there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”
I had no idea about this tradition until a friend from America visited me last December and brought a beautifully wrapped package with seven different types of biscuits. Now, I’m a fan. Biscuits are less controversial than mince pies or fruitcake, and much easier than panettone. They last well, travel easily, and can be decorated in many fancy ways, making them perfect for gifts. Here, I’ve kept it simple with rolled vanilla cookies, but once you get the hang of those, you can experiment with many other designs.
The sugar
Ben Mims, a cookie lover, writes in his book Crumbs, that the sugar cookie is a big departure from European cookie traditions. Unlike dry, crumbly, and spiced cookies, sugar cookies are chewy, dense, and plain. Cooks Illustrated calls them the “Plain Janes of classic American cookies,” and Alison Roman in her book Sweet Enough says they’re “the most boring cookies in the world … but that’s OK.” They’re similar to shortbread and Danish butter cookies, but with more flour and less butter. While that might sound disappointing, it makes the dough stronger and easier to handle, which is great for cutting into festive shapes. Plus, because they’re less rich, you can eat more of them — and Christmas is all about indulging.
Cookies are usually made with a mix of flour, butter, and sugar. As Stella Parks explains on Serious Eats, most recipes start with a basic dough made with equal parts sugar, fat, and flour by weight. The issue, as she points out, is that while flour creates a sturdy dough that’s easy to roll and cut, it doesn’t taste great, no matter how much salt or vanilla you add.
Her solution is to add more sugar, but this can make the dough spread more while baking. It also made the cookies a bit too sweet, especially once they were iced. Since it’s a time of year full of sugary treats, a less sweet version was preferred. The 40% sugar ratio used by Anja Dunk in her book Advent and Rose Levy Beranbaum in Rose’s Celebrations worked better, but I ended up increasing it to 50%, like Roman and Dorie Greenspan suggest. This helped make the cookies crispier, which I prefer over chewy cookies because I’m European and like a crunchy biscuit, even if it’s dense and plain.
Most recipes use caster or superfine sugar, but Roman’s recipe uses a mix of icing and granulated sugars. I don’t like the fine texture of icing sugar, but I do like the crunch of granulated sugar. However, I found that the coarser sugar left the cookies with a rough surface and an open texture, so caster sugar seemed like a better choice. Brown sugars are better for softer cookies because they absorb more moisture than white sugars.
The fat
All the recipes I try use butter, but I think harder, non-dairy fats could work well for the texture. These fats have a high melting point, which helps the dough keep its shape when baked. Like with sugar, it’s important to find the right balance: too much butter, and the cookies will melt in the oven; too little, and they’ll be bland. My testers felt that the 50% butter in Levy Beranbaum’s recipe wasn’t enough, while the 75% in Roman’s recipe was too soft and rich.
Parks adds coconut oil, a harder fat, to her recipe. She says it “lowers the water content of the dough, making the cookies richer and helping them last longer.” She uses refined coconut oil so it adds richness without changing the flavor. This works well, but I’m hesitant to recommend an ingredient that might be hard to find, especially at a busy time of year.
Cooks Illustrated uses cream cheese to add flavor to its dough, and its method of rubbing fat into the flour (instead of creaming butter and sugar) creates a flaky, slightly tangy texture, similar to cream cheese pastry. It’s tasty, but not exactly what I’m looking for.
Interestingly, the best, crispiest cookies come from Greenspan’s recipe in her book Dorie’s Cookies. It uses more butter than Roman’s recipe, but it doesn’t include egg yolks. Butter, like sugar, adds flavor, and I prefer a buttery cookie over one that’s too sweet, so I used more butter. Some might say this is more like a butter cookie or shortbread, but my version stays crisp, not sandy or crumbly.
When you beat butter and sugar together, it not only mixes them but also adds air, which helps make light, fluffy cookies. However, this isn’t good for making firm, sturdy biscuits. Instead, I melt the butter first and chill the dough, which makes the biscuits soft and dense. I’ve also tried creaming most of the butter and adding a little melted butter, which helps, and even clarifying the butter to remove some of the water. But the best method comes from Dunk and Cooks Illustrated, called reverse creaming. This method coats the flour with butter, which creates a barrier that slows the formation of gluten. Without gluten, the cookies stay thin and crisp. However, it’s still important to chill the dough before baking to prevent the cookies from spreading too much.
Interestingly, the crunchiest cookies come from Greenspan’s recipe in her book Dorie’s Cookies. It uses more butter than Roman’s recipe but doesn’t include egg yolks. Since butter adds flavor, I prefer a buttery cookie over a very sweet one. Some might say this recipe is more like a butter or shortbread cookie, but my version stays crisp rather than crumbly.
The eggs
I try different recipes using whole eggs (Parks and Levy Beranbaum), eggs and egg yolks (Roman), only yolks (Dunk), and only egg whites (Greenspan). I also experiment with mixing all of these once I’ve figured out the right amount of flour, butter, and sugar. Using only yolks makes the cookies soft and almost cake-like, which is also slightly true for whole egg cookies. The whites-only cookies are crisp on the edges but chewy in the middle.
If I leave out the eggs entirely, the result is more like brittle pastry. After making many batches of cookies that didn’t turn out well, I learned that combining egg whites (which help hold the mixture together) with reverse creaming and baking at a low temperature gives me the crisp, sturdy cookies I want.
Raising agents
Parks and Roman use baking powder in their cookies, and Parks also adds bicarbonate of soda. Cook’s Illustrated, Levy Beranbaum, Dunk, and Greenspan don’t use any raising agents, which makes sense to me. Without them, the cookies are less likely to puff up in all directions, which can mess up their shape.
The flavor
This recipe is great because you can add any flavor you like, such as extracts, citrus zest, or dried spices. Vanilla is the classic choice in America, but I really enjoy the citrus zest from Levy Beranbaum and Dunk, and the almond extract in Parks’s recipe adds a rich flavor that complements the butter.
Baking temperature
I’ve tried baking them at a high temperature (190°C) and a low one (140°C), but with the high heat, they brown too fast. The lower heat gives the dough too much time to spread before it firms up. A good middle ground is to start baking at a high temperature, then lower it right away. You’ll need to rotate the cookies and watch them carefully. I like mine slightly browned, but you might prefer them more golden.
The icing
You don’t need to ice these cookies – just sprinkling some glitter is easier – but icing does add to the American style. Royal icing, made from egg whites and sugar, is the traditional choice, but it can be a hassle, especially if you, like Parks, heat it over a water bath. Cooks Illustrated uses a simpler mix of icing sugar and cream cheese, but my favorite is Dunk’s easy recipe with icing sugar and orange juice.
You can make the icing thicker by adding a little syrup. Corn syrup is common in the US, but golden syrup works well here. Just keep in mind it will give your icing a slightly beige color. If you want a whiter finish, you can use glucose syrup (found in the baking section of most stores) and a clear flavoring instead. Make sure to let it set properly – after making almost 15 batches, I can tell you that patience is key in making Christmas cookies.
Perfect rolled sugar cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Chill time: 1+ hour
Makes about 45 medium-sized cookies
For the cookies:
- 275g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 140g caster sugar
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 220g cold butter
- 1 egg white (at room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract (optional)
For the icing:
- 200g icing sugar
- A pinch of salt (optional)
- 2 tbsp golden syrup (or liquid glucose or honey)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or other flavouring)
- A little milk or water
- Colouring and/or decorations (optional)
Instructions:
Put the flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and pulse briefly to mix, or put them in a large bowl and whisk them together. A food processor is recommended.
Cut the butter into small pieces or grate it, then add it to the flour. Mix it using a food processor or your hands until it looks like a powdery, sandy texture. If needed, transfer it to a bowl. Add the egg white and any flavorings, then stir to form a dough. It’s easier to do this by hand.
Place a square of clingfilm or baking paper on a flat surface, then put another square on top. Press them together to form a smooth dough. Roll the dough out to about 5mm thick, then chill it in the fridge for at least an hour.
When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)/390°F/gas mark 6 and line several baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface, then cut it into shapes you like and place them on the prepared trays. Leave some space between them so they can spread while baking.
If there are any leftover dough scraps, re-roll them, cut out more shapes, and chill them again before baking.
Place the trays in the oven, then quickly reduce the heat to 180°C (160°C for fan ovens), 350°F, or gas mark 4. Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes, turning the trays halfway through. Check the cookies after 15 minutes.
I like mine a little brown around the edges, but you might prefer them cooked more or less. Take them out of the oven and let them cool and harden on the trays.
In the meantime, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the salt, syrup, and flavouring. Mix in a little water or milk to make a thick icing that’s easy to spread but still thick enough to form a thread when you lift a spoon from the bowl. You can add colouring if you like.
Spread or pipe the icing onto the cold cookies, then decorate them however you like. Let them dry, then store them in airtight containers.
Rolled sugar cookies: What are your tips for making them successfully? What other types of cookies do you include in your holiday baking? And am I wrong in saying that Britain doesn’t have a strong tradition of Christmas biscuits?
Published: 14th December 2024
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