Best Ever Sugar Cookies

When Mikey’s mom, Amy, asked me if I wanted to make some sort of baked goods for a baby shower for one of her friends, I jumped at the opportunity. I LOVE baking (which is clearly apparent), but I love it even more when people can actually enjoy what I’ve made instead of it just rotting away on our kitchen countertops.

I wanted to make something that would make it obvious that they were made for a (little boy’s) baby shower, but I didn’t want to do the typical cupcakes, cake, or sugar cookies covered in icing. I decided on some wonderful sugar cookies rolled in blue sparkling sugar.

Besides looking cute, they tasted pretty darn good as well. In fact, to me they taste identical to those buttery cookies that you get in the black and red checkered tins; you know which I am referring to- the cookies come in all different shapes (rectangular, pretezel-shaped, etc.), but they all taste the same and are covered in coarse sugar. Yeah, THOSE!

Amy described them as “creamy” which I think is a testament to the caster sugar used in the cookies. They really are quite decadent and I highly recommend them. I myself will be making them again as soon as I get to Florida (I’m flying out today to go visit my family!). The best part is, they couldn’t be simpler to make- they’re slice-and-bake!

It should probably be noted that the cookies in these photos are the rejects. I (naturally) gave all of the good-looking cookies to Amy to deliver to her friend and these are the poor deformed ones that were left over, hah.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter (I use Irish butter which I think makes ALL the difference)
• 1 cup Caster sugar (super-fine sugar, also called baker’s sugar)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp milk (I used some creamy almond milk)
• sparkling sugar, for rolling (you could also use turbinado sugar if you didn’t want a color)

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter an sugar until light an fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add in the egg and milk and beat for another few minutes until fully combined. Slowly add in the flour mixture on low speed and mix until just combined.
3. Turn the dough out onto a clean workspace (a silicone baking mat works great), knead it a few times until it comes together, and then divide it into two equal pieces. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight (or at least 2 hours, but I think longer is better).
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge and form each ball into a log 1 1/2-2 inches in diameter. They dough will be quite firm so you will have to work with it a bit.
6. Roll the logs in the sugar until the outside is completely coated. Put the dough logs back in the fridge for about 10 minutes so they can firm up a bit.
7. Slice 1/3 inch thick rounds off of the logs and place on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat about 1 inch apart.
8. Bake for 8-9 minutes until the edges just start to turn golden. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cook further.