Soft Sugar Cookies - ☺♥

Cookie texture varies a lot depending on your goal and thus the ingredients you use and baking temperature and time. Food Nirvana already has a nice lemon sugar cookie recipe for crispy cookies, so I decided to add a recipe for soft sugar cookies, in this case flavored with almond extract, vanilla and nutmeg. Note that the choice of flavoring extract or extracts is up to you. For example, you might use coconut, maple, cinnamon, lemon, orange, cherry, or a variety of other flavoring extracts to create what you want.

I found this recipe on the Internet and I have modified it a lot. Note the optional use of frosting, food coloring and decorative sprinkles. Those are typical for holiday sugar cookies and certainly appropriate. Also quite attractive. But not required if you are making a simple sugar cookie at some non-holiday time.

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter, softened

3/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

2 extra large eggs

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of cream of tartar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Food coloring for the cookie dough (optional)

Frosting: (optional)

1/4 cup of butter, softened

3 cups of confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon of almond extract

2 to 4 tablespoons of hot water

Food coloring (optional)

Decorative sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using the electric mixer on low speed.

Beat in the flavoring extracts and the eggs, one at a time, and the (optional) food coloring, increasing the speed to medium.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

Gradually beat those dry ingredients into the creamed mixture on medium low speed only until all the ingredients are well mixed and the cookie dough formed.

Drop the cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (roughly 2 tbsp.) 3 inches apart on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Flatten each dough ball slightly with the bottom of a lightly bottom buttered glass tumbler dipped in (Demarara or sanding or ordinary) sugar.

Bake the cookies until the edges begin to brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the baking sheet with a spatula to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.

For the frosting (if you use it), beat the butter, confectioners' sugar, almond extract and enough water to reach the desired icing consistency for spreading.

Tint the icing with food coloring if you like.

Spread the icing over the cooled cookies. Likewise, use decorative sprinkles on top of the spread icing on the cookies if you like.

Store the iced/decorated cookies in a closed cookie tin with a tight lid, with the layers of cookies separated by either wax paper or parchment paper.

Enjoy!