Amish Sugar Cookies

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My favorite cookie hands down is sugar cookies. Specifically my Momma’s iced sugar cookies. However they do not handle heat and humidity well, which means North Carolina summers are bad news. I found these Amish sugar cookies that are just a drop cookie and they are a great summer alternative!

The recipe comes from Sarah at The Gold Lining Girl. There are a ton of variations for these Amish Sugar cookies! Iced orange, cherry almond, pecan praline, pumpkin spiced latte, chocolate chip, eggnog, and soooooo many more. She’s got a wide variety of dessert recipes beyond the Amish sugar cookies as well.

If you’re ready to try them out, here’s what you’ll need

• Powdered sugar
• butter, softened
• granulated sugar
• baking soda
• vegetable oil
• cream of tartar
• all purpose flour
• vanilla
• 2 eggs
• milk
• sprinkles/jimmies

Before you get started, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1 cup softened butter, 1 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 1 cup powdered sugar. Yep you read it correctly. There is powdered sugar in the cookie! Don’t write me off yet, it makes them so very soft. Beat in 2 large eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Set this aside and get a medium sized bowl.

In the medium size bowl, sift together 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar. Add half of this mixture into the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Add remaining dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined; do not over mix. You want it nice and fluffy.

You’ll be smelling them here very soon!

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Drop cookies by the teaspoon fulls onto your sheets. They do not spread a ton, so you can put them somewhat close together. I use this kind of cookie scoop in the medium size. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-11 minutes. Mine took 9 minutes in my convection oven. You want them on the under done side as they will dry out after a couple days. The edges and bottoms should be just barely light brown. Remove to wire racks and allow to cool completely; though they are so good hot out of the oven.

This is normally where I would stop, however I bought Eliza Halloween sprinkles…

So today we’re making icing. Typically I’m lazy and I don’t ice these, because they are very good not iced. However after icing them, I may ice them from now on. Get a medium bowl and add together 4 Tablespoons melted butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup milk or heavy cream. Gradually add in 4 cups powdered sugar, mixing until it is smooth.

The picture below is how mine ended up. You will need to play with it some to get to the right consistency. You want it thick but still spreadable. It is thicker than a traditional glaze so that it does not run off the cookie. As you work the icing will begin to set up. I didn’t have any issues other than some of Eliza’s sprinkles had to be pressed in to get them to stick. If it gets too hard for you just throw it in the microwave for 5 seconds to get it back to a spreadable consistency.

That’s it! So much easier and faster than my favorite sugar cookies. Not quite as amazing but a close second that can be made in the NC summer nastiness. Once you’re done icing and throwing on some sprinkles/jimmies just let them set until hard.

Place cookies in a nice air tight container with a layer of parchment paper between cookie layers. These freeze remarkably well even once iced! They do tend to dry out quick. I froze half of them and they were just as moist as the first day when I took them out of the freezer.