Sheet Pan

Chewy Sugar Cookies #1

by:
March 30, 2010
3.5
2 Ratings
  • Serves about 3 dozen
Author Notes

This is one of my favorite sugar cookies recipes, of which I do not know the provenance, sadly. But I can tell you that it’s a fabulous base for an array of delicious cookie varieties, like the lemon-ginger suggestion here, a favorite at the Pound Ridge Farmers Market. Or try it with lime-coconut perhaps. Or cherry-almond. The permutations are endless. The version shown in the 2nd photo are the plain sugar cookies. —mrslarkin

Test Kitchen Notes

I had the pleasure of testing Mrs. Larkin's Chewy Sugar Cookies #1. They are delicious. Not too sweet, very buttery, with a big hit of vanilla extract that perfumes each cookie with delicious aroma. They are, as she says, a great vehicle for other flavors. (I included meyer lemon zest in mine; I didn't have candied ginger, but I could see that it would add a lot.) The cookies are soft more than they are chewy with nice crisp edges and great crunch from the turbinado sugar that I sprinkled on the top. They spread quite a bit and benefitted from a little longer chilling than she recommends. After making the first batch and seeing how much they spread, I refrigerated the second on the cookie sheet for another 30 minutes before baking. In my oven they took 14 minutes, and that was doing one sheet at a time. A small technical point -- since you are refrigerating the dough for 1/2 hour after making it, you don't have to line the cookie sheets or preheat the oven until the dough goes into the refrigerator. I think these cookies are wonderful and highly recommend them as an Editors' Pick. - drbabs —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (I use King Arthur)
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • zest of 1 lemon (optional)
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger (optional)
  • 1 cup turbinado, or course colored sugar
  • thin lemon glaze made with confectioner's sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice (otional)
Directions
  1. Line several sheet pans with parchment paper.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla. Beat for one minute. Scrape down sides of bowl.
  3. Add egg and beat for 1 minute. Scrape sides of bowl.
  4. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Beat for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl after 1 minute.
  5. Add lemon zest and ginger, if using, and stir to combine.
  6. Chill dough for ½ hour in refrigerator.
  7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place course sugar in a small shallow bowl. With a small ice cream/cookie scoop (mine is 1 ½“ in diameter), scoop balls and drop a few at a time into the course sugar. Roll in sugar. Place on parchment-lined pans about an inch apart.
  8. Lay a sheet of parchment over the dough balls. Place a heavy sheet pan on top and press down slightly to flatten all the balls of dough to about 1/4” - 1/2" thick. Remove top pan and peel off top parchment. Sprinkle more sugar on top if desired.
  9. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just lightly golden around edges of cookies.Cool pans on racks.
  10. If you want to glaze the cookies, drizzle lemon glaze over top. Let the glaze firm up before storing in air-tight containers.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • aargersi
    aargersi
  • mrslarkin
    mrslarkin
  • arielleclementine
    arielleclementine
  • testkitchenette
    testkitchenette
  • Lizthechef
    Lizthechef

14 Reviews

aargersi December 23, 2011
Just made a clementine and lemon zest version ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 
mrslarkin December 23, 2011
ohhh. very nice! Love me some citrus!
 
mrslarkin April 15, 2010
Wow! Thank you so much, drbabs!! I'm really glad you enjoyed these.
 
drbabs April 15, 2010
Seriously--I brought them to work yesterday and everyone was fighting over them. I printed out the recipe and someone made a bunch of copies. they were really good.
 
mrslarkin April 11, 2010
Cook's Note: For lemon-ginger version, add zest to butter/sugar in step 2. If desired, drizzle cooled cookies with a confectioner's sugar/lemon juice icing (see picture #2).
 
mrslarkin March 31, 2010
Day 3...still chewy!
 
arielleclementine March 30, 2010
oh boy! pretty little cookies! well done, mrslarkin!
 
mrslarkin March 30, 2010
why, thank you, arielleclementine!!
 
testkitchenette March 30, 2010
Delicious!
 
mrslarkin March 30, 2010
Thanks, TK!
 
Lizthechef March 30, 2010
I'm inspired to try cookies again one of these days - yours look delicious!
 
mrslarkin March 30, 2010
Thank you, Liz!
 
drbabs March 30, 2010
Your cookies are gorgeous!
 
mrslarkin March 30, 2010
Wow, thanks so much, doc!