A Very Harry Christmas, Day 7: Sugar Biscuits

I think every family makes sugar cookies at Christmastime, in fact...I have never met a family that doesn't have their own "secret" family recipe.  Last year I made one of our family's favorites we adopted from a beloved friend at church.  This year, I was pleased to see that my HP Cookbook had a sugar biscuit recipe that looked like it was going to be wonderful.

I will stipulate this recipe calls for refrigerating the dough and rolling it out, I am not a fan of cut outs.  Not even when all I do is decorate them with colored sugar.  I like my sugar biscuits round and I like them with buttercream frosting, so does my WHOLE family...the people I grew up with and my own little family.  So, that's what I did.  

Sugar Biscuits
3 c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, soft
1 ½ c. sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Extra sugar to dust the top of the cookies with

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Once the two ingredients have combined and become light and fluffy looking, beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure that each egg has been fully incorporated before adding the next. Next, beat in the vanilla extract.

Turn the electric mixer down to the lowest speed. Gently add in the flour mixture and mix until combined. Once almost fully mixed, turn the mixer onto medium-high and beat for 15-30 seconds. Divide the dough into two portions and wrap each portion into individual pieces of plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove one chilled dough ball and quickly roll it out into ¼ inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out pieces of dough and place them on the cookie sheet. This is where things got a little tricky. You see, its probably best to divide one dough ball half into two and then roll that portion out as the other portion chills. Then stamp out the cookie and place on the baking pan. Lightly dust the tops of the dough with sugar.

Bake for 12 minutes. I personally think this would be too long. I baked mine for 10 minutes and they came out perfect, however, they become a little tougher as they sit out, so if you want a really soft cookie, go for 8 or 9 minutes. 

**Note: These are Hagrid’s cookies and they are supposed to be a little doughy, so if you want them like Hagrid, roll the dough to about ½ inch thickness and bake for about 10 minutes max. Remove the cookies from the oven and place on a cooking rack for about 3 minutes. Then transfer the actual cookie onto a cooling rack for the duration of the cooling process. Repeat steps until all of the dough has been used up.

As I mentioned, I like my cookies round and frosted.  So I used my Pampered Chef medium scoop and then dipped the rounded tops in sugar and baked them RIGHT away, no refrigeration.  They only spread a small amount.  (Had the dough been refrigerated, then rolled out and cut into shapes there would have been no spreading whatsoever.)  I also usually skip the parchment paper.  If you haven't made flavored cookies on your cookie sheet in a while, it really isn't necessary.  Especially if you wash your sheets between baking sessions and typically don't have your cookies stick to the sheet.

This is a WONDERFUL, simple sugar biscuit recipe.  The dough didn't end up being overly sticky or gooey, so this is fabulous for a quick biscuit marathon with your children!!

They turn out incredibly crisp on the outside, thanks to the sugar dip they got before baking, but then on the inside...SO soft and chewy.  Just a DREAM of a basic sugar cookie dough.  I just love this recipe.  It is going to be a hard one for anyone else to beat.  Give it a whirl with your family today, you'll have a great time in the kitchen and fabulous biscuits at the end for your reward!