Aunt Anns Sugar Cookies Recipes

ANNE'S BASIC SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Combine cake mix, butter, egg, vanilla, and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture comes together into a sticky ball, 30 to 45 seconds.
• Roll the dough to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured board with a lightly floured rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to stamp out shapes and place them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. (You can reroll the dough scraps once and cut out more cookies.) Brush the cookies with egg white and decorate with sprinkles.
• Place one pan in the oven at a time. Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes for smaller cookies and 10 to 12 minutes for larger. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove to wire racks with a metal spatula to cool completely, about 20 minutes.

AUNT MARY'S OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then the lemon juice.
• In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
• Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well.
• Gather dough into a ball, divide in half and pat into two disks. Chill for an hour or overnight.
• Roll out dough on a floured surface ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into shapes. Transfer cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. (Watch closely, you don't want them to get too brown.)
• Cool and paint with tinted icing and decorative sprinkles.

MARY'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix sugar and butter. Add egg and flavorings; mix thoroughly. Measure flour. Stir dry ingredients together and blend in. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Divide dough in half and roll 3/16" thick on lightly floured surface. (I roll it between two sheets of parchment.) Cut with cookie cutter. Place on lightly greased baking sheet or, if using parchment paper to roll out cookies, just place the parchment paper with cut cookies right onto a cookie sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes or until delicately golden. Makes 30 (3") round cookies.
• Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat butter, sugar, milk and vanilla together until smooth and creamy. Frost cookies and add sprinkles, if desired.

AUNT ANNIE'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg together.
• In a large bowl, fully cream margarine and sugar together.
• Add soured milk alternately with the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.
• Form dough into a ball, wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
• Cut the dough into quarters and roll out one quarter at a time (it rolls and cuts the best if it is chilled, so keep the remaining sections in the refrigerator until you're ready to use them).
• I use a pastry mat to cut my dough out on. I have never had a problem with the dough being sticky, but you can lightly flour your work surface, if necessary (beware that it might change the flavor a bit if you over flour).
• Transfer the cut out cookies to an ungreased baking sheet. I like to sprinkle a little sugar on the tops of them before baking. My children like to put sprinkles on top first. Or, you can leave them plain and put icing on afterwards. We have too big a sweet tooth here to eat them plain.
• Bake in a 350°F oven for 7-9 minutes. Do not brown!
• Enjoy!

AUNT ANNE'S SESAME COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and anise extract until well blended. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well incorporated. If you are using a stand mixer, let the dough mix for another minute to add lightness to the dough. The dough will be soft, but will hand roll easily.
• Pinch off pieces of dough slightly smaller than a walnut, and roll them into small logs. Dip in milk, then roll in sesame seeds. Place cookies one inch apart on a cookie sheet. Cookies will not spread very much.
• Bake for 17 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bottom and sides of cookies are lightly toasted. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

AUNT SHIRLEY'S SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment, if desired.
• 2. In large mixing bowl, beat together butter, oil, and sugars until light and very fluffy. Add vanilla and beat well. Add soda, cream of tartar, and salt and mix thoroughly. Add flour a cup at a time and mix just until incorporated. Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls (use a small cookie scoop for uniformity) onto ungreased cookie sheet, about 1-1½ inches apart. Use a decorative-bottomed glass or cookie stamp to flatten each ball slightly, dipping the glass or stamp in sugar prior to each press.
• 3. Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges begin to turn golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies, depending on the size. Freeze indefinitely in an airtight container.

ANN'S SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix together butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and almond extract in a large bowl.
• In another bowl stir together flour, soda, and cream of tartar.
• Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375.
• Divide dough in half.
• On a lightly floured surface roll each half to 3/16 of an inch.
• Cut out shapes as desired and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake on cookie sheets for about 8 minutes.