Super Sugar Cookies

The quest for the perfect rolled sugar cookie stops here.  This is the only recipe you will ever need: not sticky, easy to roll, keeps their shape, soft and delicious.

Super Sugar Cookies: the quest for the perfect sugar cookie stops here - easy to roll, no spreading, and soft and delicious. {Bunsen Burner Bakery}
As a huge Steelers fan, these cookies were my contribution to last year’s Superbowl party. I held off on posting them in hopes that the Steelers would once again make a Superbowl run, and I’d have a reason to make them again, with my much-improved decorating skills acquired over the past year. Unfortunately, they will not be making an appearance this year, so no reason to make Steelers cookies anytime soon. 🙁
Super Sugar Cookies: the quest for the perfect sugar cookie stops here - easy to roll, no spreading, and soft and delicious. {Bunsen Burner Bakery}
These cookies are, dare I say, my definition of perfect. The dough is soft enough to roll easily, not remotely sticky — no flour necessary to roll them out, which helps them hold their shape better (adding extra flour to the rolling surface and rolling pin often cause cookies to spread). They sat out Friday night cooling and Saturday night drying, uncovered, and were still perfectly soft on Sunday. And, they’re not too sweet, which I like, since royal icing is just another layer of sugar on top.
Super Sugar Cookies: the quest for the perfect sugar cookie stops here - easy to roll, no spreading, and soft and delicious. {Bunsen Burner Bakery}
Instead of the standard creaming sugar and butter and then adding in the flour, these cookies use reverse creaming. The butter is added to a flour and sugar combination, which eliminates all those little air pockets that tend to make cookies balloon up. The recipe also calls for superfine sugar; if your grocery store doesn’t carry it (mine does not), process 1 cup of granulated sugar in a food processor for 30 seconds, then measure the appropriate amount.
Super Sugar Cookies: the quest for the perfect sugar cookie stops here - easy to roll, no spreading, and soft and delicious. {Bunsen Burner Bakery}

The Perfect Rolled Sugar Cookie
Source: America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup superfine sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 16 tablespoons softened butter, cut into half-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter into the flour mixture, adding one piece at a time. Mixture should look crumbly and slightly wet
  2. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until the dough begins to form large clumps. Knead the dough in the bowl by hand several times until it forms a large, smooth mass.
  3. Divide dough into two even pieces. Form into a 4-inch disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to two days (dough can be frozen at this step for up to a month).
  4. Roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper to a 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness, no flour necessary. Slide the dough, still between parchment paper, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate 10 minutes. This firms the dough to ensure a perfect cut with the cookie cutters.
  5. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  6. Remove dough from refrigerator. Carefully remove top piece of parchment paper and cut out cookies. Transfer the cookies to the baking sheet, spaced one inch apart.
  7. Bake the cookies until light golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.
  8. Repeat with remaining dough. Dough scraps can be re-rolled up to two additional times (ATK claims once, but I re-rolled mine again afterward and the cookies still held their shape perfectly).