Tonight folks, I have crashed and burned yet again. Now I consider myself a pretty decent baker. I can make a dang good pie crust, pretty good cinnamon rolls, bake bread, cookies, pastries, etc. (it helps when you love to eat your product as much as I do)... So.... WHY CAN I NOT MAKE A GOOD SUGAR COOKIE????? I just want a fluffy, soft sugar cookie. Is that so much to ask? Neighbors bring them and my in-laws bake them so I know it can be done-- so far just not by me. Tonight I used an American Test Kitchen recipe. If you don't know what this is, they make a bunch of the same thing (like a sugar cookie) and have a panel judge until they get the perfect recipe. That is where I got my amazing chocolate cake recipe. Pretty much everything I make from them is awesome. So I had high hopes tonight. I followed the recipe perfectly. I measured impeccably. I mixed the dry ingredients, I creamed the butter and sugar for 3 minutes until it was light and fluffy. I sat and watched the dang things while they baked in my oven. And this is what I got. The worst part is that despite the exact same dough, oven temperature, and amount of dough on the pan each batch got progressively worse. What?!
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| Pan #1 |
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| Pan #2 |
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| Pan #3 |
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| And the inside of all of them full of these big holes! |
Even the first batch that looked prettiest were crunchy with these weird holes inside them. I should be able to figure this out. I had to take an entire college class called "Experimental Foods" where we purposely screwed baked goods up like this and then discussed why it went wrong (and how to make it right). So, I'm appealing to all of you, my readers. Bring me some nice soft sugar cookies, and PLEEEEEASE send me a fail-proof recipe! This streak must be broken!!
5 comments:
Maybe it's the elevation? I have an AWESOME sugar cookie recipe. It's the lofthouse recipe and I LOVE IT. I will find the link and send it you :)
It has to be the elevation. Just in case, here's my recipe for you to try. I roll them out and cut them really thick, like 1/4 in. at least. Thicker than you think it should be and then take them out of the oven just before they turn brown. Like when the middle is just barely cooked. They may seem raw, but once they cool, they will be perfect.
preheat oven to 375 F
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
directions: cream (softened, not melted or cold) butter and sugar beat in eggs and vanilla (barely) then add dry ingredients. Only mix as much as you need to to get ingredients mixed. Chill it (or not).
bake from 5-8 minutes.
1 cup shortning
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 cup flour
*mix together then add:
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4 cups sugar
*mix together then roll really thick like the lofthouse cookies. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes. Let sit on pan for 2 minutes then trasfer to cooling rack.
You have to frost these with THIS amazing frosting. The best part is the almond extract...
3 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, soft
1 t vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 t almond extract
*mix cream cheese and butter til mixed then add vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix and add almond extract.
ENJOY! These are the sugar cookies we make and decorate for EVERY holiday. They are Bryson's favs!
The 4 cups of sugar are actully 4 cups of FLOUR. Don't put 4 cups of sugar into anything. Especially these. :)
I was thinking elevation, I had cupcakes that did this and I had to add half a cup of flour and double the baking soda to the recipe. The recipe from your friends the Allemans looks alot like Grandma Moncur's recipe. That one works for me every time once I figured out I was rolling the dough too thin. Keep the dough rolled thick!
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