Mary’s Sugar Cookie Recipe (Betty Crocker)

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour 2 ½ cups

Baking Soda 1 tsp

Cream of Tartar 1 tsp

Salt ¼ tsp

Butter (room temp) 2 sticks

Powdered Sugar 1 ½ cups

Egg 1 large

Vanilla Extract 1 tsp

Almond Extract ½ tsp


Directions: 

  1. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

  2. In the bowl of amixer cream together the butter and powdered sugar until it is light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

  3. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract and mix on medium speed until well combined.

  4. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

  5. Divide the dough into two or more balls and roll on a piece of parchment paper, transfer the rolled dough onto a cookie tray and place in the freezer until the dough is firm.

  6. After the dough has chilled, cut out your cookies using a cookie cutter and transfer to a parchment lined, room temperature sheet tray.

  7. Bake at 375 for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies just start to turn golden brown.

  8. Cool completely before decorating. 




Tips and Tricks

  1. Rolling the dough before chilling makes it a lot easier to work with. I roll mine on parchment and do not use any additional flour, if you do use flour only use a very small amount as too much will change the texture of your cookies. 

  2. Stack all your rolled dough onto one tray and chill until it is firm. Cut your cookies while the dough is chilled, this helps them to keep their shape when moving them onto the tray.

 

Alternative Sugar Cookie Recipes

While I love the taste of Mary’s Sugar Cookies I do find that it tends to spread a bit more than I like and does not always hold it shape well. Below are some other great options for sugar cookie recipes.

If you would like the recipe that I use you can find that Here

Semi Sweet Mike Also has some great recipes on his website. Plus he has flavored cookie recipes!

Dessert Pantry also has some great recipes! She has both drop cookies and roll out cookies.

Sweet Hope Hybrid Royal Icing

Part One: Royal Icing

Powdered Sugar 2 lbs (1 bag)

Meringue Powder 2 Tbsp

Water ½ cup + 2 Tbsp

Vanilla Extract 2 tsp

Corn Syrup 1 Tbsp


Directions:

  1. Whisk the meringue powder into the powdered sugar

  2. Add water, vanilla and corn syrup and mix on low with the paddle attachment until combined. Then turn to medium and beat until stiff peaks form. At this point the icing should have a dull appearance.

  3. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and set aside.


Part Two: Glaze

Powdered Sugar 2 lbs (1 bag)

Water ½ cup

Corn Syrup ½ cup

Vanilla Extract 2 tsp


Directions:

  1. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix with the paddle attachment until well combined and smooth (this is a lot shorter then the Royal Icing and will only take about a minute or so).



Part Three: Hybrid Icing

Royal Icing 1 batch

Glaze 1 batch

Directions:

  1. Add the royal icing into the bowl with the glaze.

  2. Using the paddle attachment mix the two icings together on low to medium seed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute or until the icing is well combined and you do not see any streaks

  3. When you are not using the icing keep it covered with a damp paper towel or it will crust over

Piping Bags

When using Royal Icing I prefer to use tipless piping bags. I have not been able to find these in stores, but they can be ordered online.

The ones we used in class are from Borderlands Bakery I like these because hey are nice and durable. If you would like a cheaper option you can find some on Amazon.