Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies Recipe - Savory Nothings (2024)

FAQs

How to jazz up sugar cookies? ›

Take plain sugar cookies up a notch with exciting mix-ins like chocolate chips, rainbow sprinkles, toasted chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit or M&M's. Add these after blending your butter and egg into the sugar cookie mix.

Vanilla Extract: Adding a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract to the cookie dough can provide a rich and aromatic flavor. Almond Extract: For a twist on the traditional sugar cookie flavor, try adding a small amount of almond extract. Start with 1/2 teaspoon and adjust according to your preference.

Easy Add-In: After creating the dough according to the sugar cookie mix instructions, Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream to create a tangier, cakier and all-around more flavorful cookie. Flavor Twist: For a punchier twist, swap the water in the sugar cookie mix instructions for rum, bourbon or coffee liqueur.

Baking soda encourages spreading while baking powder puffs the cookies up. If your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, you would use 3 to 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Caution: This could result in an unwanted flavor shift.

Dip cookie dough rounds in sprinkles or sugar before baking. On ungreased cookie sheet, place cookie dough rounds about 2 inches apart. Bake 12 to 16 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

Sugar sweetens the cookies and makes them an enticing golden brown. Adding too little sugar can affect the taste and texture of cookies. Adding too much can cause them to be brittle. Take your time creaming the sugar and butter together at the beginning.

Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer.

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

You can use olive, canola or vegetable oil. Depending on the type of oil, it can add complex flavor to your baked goods. You can replace about 3/4 of the butter in a recipe with olive, canola or vegetable oil. So, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, use ¾ cup oil.

How do you make store bought sugar cookie dough not spread? ›

Hack #1: Chill your cookie dough before baking to make it easier to work with and to control spread. How does it work? Cookies can spread when baked and lose their shape. To fix this, let your cookie dough rest in the refrigerator for an hour before you roll it out and cut out shapes.

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

shape the cookies, put them on the tray, then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking. If you don't want puffy cookies, flatten them with the back of a glass dipped in flour before chilling. If you're making your cookies with margarine, you might want to substitute vegetable shortening or butter.

If your oven is too hot or too cold, it may influence whether or not your cookies spread properly. If you didn't preheat your oven to the correct temperature before placing your tray of cookies in the oven, it will be too cold and your cookies won't have enough time to spread.

If you want to decorate sugar cookies with a smooth, professional-like surface, flood the cookie with your thinner icing after you've outlined it. You don't want to start and stop as you do this, as this can cause your cookie to not have a smooth surface of icing.

Royal icing is the key to perfectly iced cookies. The secret ingredients are powdered sugar and meringue powder (or whipped pasteurized egg whites). That's it! You could add a small amount of lemon juice for flavor that won't disrupt the pure white color of the icing, but that's your call.

Over-working the dough yields a tough cookie, which is not at all what you want. The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer.

Can I flavour these cookies? Yes! Instead of vanilla, you can add another extract like almond, rose water or orange. You can also add some fresh lemon, lime or orange zest to the cookie dough.