Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie Recipe and Your FAQ

This sugar cookie recipe has been handed down in my family for at least four generations. It’s easy, traditional, and will make your home smell like the holidays any time of the year! They can be rolled out to cut with cookie cutters or dropped by the spoonful for a truly old-fashioned sugar cookie.

My great-grandmother, Ma Horton, passed away in 1978 at the age of 85.  Her recipe was handed down to me by my grandmother. Her house always smelled of coffee and cookies. They say smell is tied to memory more than any other sense. I know when I bake her recipe, I am flooded with treasured memories.

She cooked on a wood stove and in cast iron as I still do, the cast iron that is, I’m still waiting for my wood stove.  Her Molasses Cookies, Coconut Cake, Chocolate Pie, Egg Custard, and Sugar Cookies were my favorites.

Sugar Cookie Recipe FAQ

Why don’t my cookies turn out like my grandmother’s?

You know, we expect our recipes to turn out “just like Grandma’s” when we don’t use the same ingredients she did.  Yes, it may be flour, salt, and sugar, but the quality of ingredients she had access to is harder for us to get.

She would never have dreamed of having to buy organic; everything was “organic” and most of it came from her farm or neighboring farms. There were no such things as GMOs. But that was then, and this is now.

I have found that by purchasing organic, non-GMO ingredients and grass-fed or pasture-raised animal products, I get results that taste like those of my grandmother and great-grandmother.

How do I keep sugar cookies from spreading?

I recommend lining your cookie tray with parchment paper or using an ungreased cookie sheet. Greasing your baking sheet adds more oil to the recipe just as having too much fat in a recipe will cause the cookies to spread so will a greased baking sheet.

The other reason may be that you added too much butter or did not add the correct amount of flour.

Why are my sugar cookies dry and crumbly?

The most likely reason is the use of too much flour. Avoid over flouring your rolling surface. Use only a faint dusting.

The second most likely reason is that you overbaked them. Cookies should be taken out one or two minutes before you think they are completely done. They will continue to cook on the baking sheet for that long once you remove them from the oven.

Allow them to cool on the tray for 2 minutes then remove the cookies to a cooling rack. Store them in an airtight container as soon as they are thoroughly cool.

Why are my sugar cookies tough?

Usually, the reason sugar cookies, or really any cookie, turn out tough is that they have been over mixed.

Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour and too high of a gluten level makes for tough cookies.

Mix only until all the ingredients are well combined.

Can I restore moisture to a dry cookie?

It may be possible to make a dried out cookie softer but it’s not a guarantee. My grandmother put a slice of bread in the cookie canister. I was a grown woman before I understood she was adding moisture to the tin to keep cookies soft by placing the bread in there with them.

As a way of update, we have made the switch to Einkorn flour. If you or a family member has any gastrointestinal issues related to gluten in modern wheat, this may be the answer for you. I now make this recipe using Einkorn flour and it’s even tastier!

Ma Horton’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup of sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 3 large eggs (I use my yard eggs)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp real salt (Learn about real salt)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla (1/2 tsp Almond flavoring)

Instructions:

1. In a medium size bowl, combine flour, soda, and real salt. (I received a mixing tool from my kids for my birthday one year and I have to say I never want to be without it!)
2. In a medium size mixing bowl cream sugars and butter together.  
3. Add eggs one at a time until well blended.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing well.  
   • Add vanilla while mixing.
   • Mix just until all ingredients are well combined.

To Roll Dough For Use With Cookie Cutters:

1. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
2. Then separate the dough into two equal balls (as close as you can get to it)
3. You can lightly dust the rolling surface with flour but I prefer to place the dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out.
4. Roll dough to 1/4″ thickness.
5. Cut with cookie cutters and repeat until all your dough is used.
6. Shape and bake any “scrap” pieces of dough after you have cut your cookies.

To Make An Old-Fashioned Dropped Sugar Cookie (my preferred method)

1. Scoop out a well rounded teaspoon (like you stir tea or coffee with) of dough.
2. Roll it into a ball.  
3. Place each ball onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and use the smooth, flat bottom of a glass or other object to pat out flat.
   • I use a wooden spoon or my fingers.
   • Whatever you use, dip it in sugar to keep it from sticking to the dough.

Baking Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F for 15 minutes
2. Place your baking rack in the middle of the oven and put the cookie sheet in.
3. Bake until the edges are golden brown.
   • In my gas oven, this is around 9-10 mins.  We like them crunchy on the edges, but soft in the middle so this is the time I use. 
   • For softer cookies, bake 8 minutes and check.
   • For firmer, crispy cookies, bake 12 minutes.
4. Let them cool on the pan for 2 minutes then remove the cookies to a cooling rack.
5. As soon as they are cool, store in an airtight container.

To Frost or Not to Frost

A truly old-fashioned sugar cookie recipe is not frosted, but it is melt in the mouth delicious. However, we enjoy them frosted with buttercream frosting, especially during the holidays.

Find more delicious recipes on TFL.