Cookies Decorated for the DAR –

The Daughters of the American Revolution

Recipe submitted by Pamela Freeman Tucker

Ingredients

1 or more Rycraft cookie stamps

3 cups all-purpose flour (430 grams)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature unsalted butter (226 grams)

1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)

1 large egg room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder (omit this to prevent excessive spreading while baking)

1/2 tsp Almond Extract (optional)

1/2 tsp Lemon Extract (optional)

Method

Sift together flour, baking powder (optional), salt and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together room temperature butter and sugar about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl twice. Butter creamed with sugar should be light and creamy in color.
In a small dish whisk together room temperature egg and vanilla extract. If using, whisk in almond extract and lemon extract, and set aside.
Gradually add egg mixture into butter mixture, beating well till combined – about a minute.
Lower the speed of your mixer to low. Gradually, in 3 additions, add flour mixture. Scrape the bowl well after the last addition and beat on low speed until flour is blended in. At this stage you’ll see chunks of cookie dough.
Dust a a large mixing bowl with 1 tbs flour. Scrape the cookie dough into a bowl. Gather dough together. Using your hands knead the cookie dough for about 10-20 seconds, until dough comes together. Shape into a ball. If dough appears too wet add 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour.
Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours. This is great when you don’t have time to make the cookies on the same day, or you can make them later in the day. Or speed up the process by placing it in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour. Or, roll out freshly made cookie dough between two sheets of parchment or silicone mats and chill for an hour. I don’t recommend leaving rolled cookie dough in the fridge for too long (overnight and longer) as it tends to dry out around the edges.
Preheat oven to 375F.
If you find that dough is hard as a rock, don’t panic. Quarter the dough. Take one piece and microwave on high for 5-8 seconds to soften it up a little. It shouldn’t be super soft, just soft enough so you can work with it.
Roll dough into 1″ balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes, or in the freezer for 5.
Roll the balls in either flour or granulated sugar, then stamp with a cookie stamp using a rocking motion to press the dough well into the design on the face of the stamp. Clean your stamp of any bits of dough between stampings.
Bake for 10-11 minutes, depending on the oven, turn the sheet once half way through the baking.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, transfer to cooling rack.
Decorate cookies as desired with royal icing or other medium that you use.
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze between pieces of wax paper in a large freeze safe container, for up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes

HOW LONG CAN I KEEP THE DOUGH IN THE FRIDGE?

You can keep the cookie dough in the fridge for up to 3 days. After that, you can either make the cookies or freeze the cookie dough for later. Up to 3 months.

HOW THICK SHOULD COOKIES BE AFTER STAMPING?

1/4 inch thick, and a little thicker when making cookie pops.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you are experiencing inconsistent results, omit baking powder or use less of it and up the temperature to 380º F. if you used 375º F. before.

FLAVORINGS

Lemon / Orange Zest Cookies – use 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest and 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon extract

Almond Sugar Cookies – add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract. I find the almond flavor to be very strong and 1 teaspoon does the trick for me but if you’d like to add even more extract you definitely can. Almond cookies pair really nicely with my Fresh lemon royal icing.

Pamela's Comments on This Recipe

This was my first time using a cookie stamp. I thought it turned out OK.

I have been using a modified version of Haniela’s recipe for a few years. My modifications are that I use salted butter instead of unsalted butter & adding salt. I use 125-150 grams of sugar instead of 200 grams since I am going to add icing. I don’t add the baking powder and I use 1 Tbs of vanilla & 1 Tbs of Almond flavoring & don’t use any lemon. I increase the flour to 450 grams since I add a little more flavoring & I decrease the sugar some. I also use Almond flavoring in my Royal Icing. Yummy!! I also bake on a silicone baking mat.

Name and source of recipe:

Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

www.hanielas.com

“Use this recipe to make cut-out cookies. This great tasting cookie recipe is great plain or decorated with royal icing/glaze chocolate or fondant. It’s a cross between sugar and shortbread cookies.”

NOTE: This recipe was modified for use with Rycraft cookie stamps.