Sugar Cookies!!

About a month ago, Josh & I had one of those days where all the errands you have to run are ALL OVER TOWN.  We had gotten up early and were out of the house by 9am & that’s pretty good for us!

Anyway, after a couple hours of fighting traffic and missing turns, we decided to take a break & stop at Borders.  I love Borders.  All those books & cookbooks!  Every time I go in there I spend at least an hour walking around coveting books I can’t afford.  When I finally made it over to the cookbook section, Josh says he wants to buy me one & all I have to do is find one I want!  That was TOO easy.  I found about ten that I wanted, but they just didn’t call to me.   When I found “The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread”, with all the pretty pictures, really good introductions & seemingly good recipes; I gave it to Josh & gave him the “I love you” look.  It worked & as I walked out carrying my new cookbook, I swear I could feel the weight already piling on!!

I spent hours flipping each page, looking at the pictures, reading the recipes & stories… I have never ever been so excited about a cookbook.  Most of my cookbooks have one or two good recipes that I actually end up making, but so far I’ve made 9 different recipes from this book & many of them I’ve made more than twice!  This book has a little bit of everything & I definitely suggest putting this on your ‘to buy’ list.

Here’s a sugar cookie recipe that is actually an “Orange Butter Cookie” in the book, I made some changes to make it a plain ‘ol sugar cookie recipe.  It’s a great sugar cookie, it seems to please everyone because my mom isn’t a sugar freak & Josh is a sugar-holic & they both liked them.  I thought they were good, but not great.  It isn’t the recipe, it’s more me.  I tend to like gooey-er sugar cookies.

[printable recipe]

Sugar Cookies

adapted from The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread

1 3/4 cups AP flour

1 2/3 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups sugar (plus extra for topping cookies)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened slightly

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

2 large egg yolks

Position both oven racks to the middle & preheat to 350°F.  Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking soda & salt.  In a small bowl mix together egg, yolks & vanilla.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (with paddle attachment), cream together the sugar & butter.  Add the egg mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed, slowly add flour mixture.  Mix until just combined.

Using an ice cream scoop (that holds 1/2 cup), scoop dough onto cookie sheets, 6 per sheet.  Cookies should be 2 1/4 inches in diameter.  Using a dampened hand, flatten cookies to about 1/2 inch thick.  Sprinkle tops with plenty of sugar.  Bake for 8 minutes, rotate & switch pans, & bake for another 8 minutes or until set.  The cookies should still be pale.