Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie—Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar CookiesMore cutout cookies this week. This time we're making sugar cookies. I find the hardest part about sugar cookies is decorating them!

A video
Here's a video that gives lots of ideas for decorating sugar cookies:



Or, just sprinkle some colored sugar on top (like I did)!

A book
In my reading this week, I found a new book to add to my Christmas list: Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste. From the author's blog, I found her recipe for Sugar Cookies. It has the same ingredients as Dorie's, but in slightly different quantities.

A television show
I also watched Alton Brown's "The Cookie Clause" episode. If you're a fan of Alton Brown, here are the links to the show on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2.

Recipe

Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
Dorie's
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Dirty Sugar Cookies
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup of shortening (or 2 sticks of butter)
1¼ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


You can find the recipe for Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Ulrike of Küchenlatein who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe.

Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar CookiesTasting Notes
Mine were crunchy, which is how I like them. Not doughy. If you like them nice and soft, roll them thicker or bake them less. Sugar cookies on their own are dull, so a sprinkle of sugar or some Caramelized Butter Frosting helps. A sprinkle of "toast dope" (cinnamon sugar) is nice too and transforms them into a cookie more similar to snickerdoodles.

A commercial

Found on "Commercials I Hate"


Recipe for Next Week (December 16)
Buttery Jam Cookies on page 80 chosen by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl.

Other Christmas cookie ideas:
Linzer Sablés
Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Lenox Almond Biscotti
Rugelach

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  • 29 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I love the star cookies, so will the kids! Lovely blog!

    kimberly salem said...

    I love those dragees :) Perfect for the star shape! The videos are blocked for me at the moment, I'll have to check them out later!

    Kimberly Johnson said...

    Your star cookies look great! Thanks for all the cookie links.

    Julie said...

    Beautiful and simple star shaped cookies! I enjoyed watching the video on how to decorate cookies, thanks!!!

    vibi said...

    I'll say like you: What the heck! when someone else can show the complicated tricks of the trade... why not leave it to them!? LOL
    I'm only starting now, to really get your drift: Why make complicated, when you can make simple!?
    The tartelette baked in a lid, the free formed caramel splashes. etc... look pretty intricate, but come to think of it, they're truly not!
    I believe Shari, you have to have an original and out of this world talent to trick one's eye into believing the masterpiece cut into italian marble they're admiring, is in fact, a simple sugar cookie!

    Anonymous said...

    Very beautiful...so elegant and charming...great photos and post...and I love all those little videos and things you find for us all each week.

    Flourchild said...

    Great cookies and I love the silver decorations on the stars. Im glad you liked them!

    Anonymous said...

    The cookies look great. I just love sugar cookies. They're my favorite!

    doughmesstic said...

    Love the dragees! They look great on those perfect little stars!

    chocolatechic said...

    I adore how you decorated your cookies.

    Anonymous said...

    I can never get my sugar cookies to look like yours. For some reason the edges always brown too much. Yours are lovely.

    The Food Librarian said...

    Lovely! Dragees are illegal in California (crazy, I know) so I envy your stash.

    Jules Someone said...

    So much good information! Nice looking cookies.

    Anonymous said...

    Oh they're gorgeous! I wish dragees were available in CA. Bummer.

    Engineer Baker said...

    Toast dope - hehe :) A sprinkling of sugar is simple and delicious, so I heartily approve of your decorating strategy.

    Cathy said...

    I should have known that I'd see some spectacular sugar cookies here! Your first pic of the star cookies on ice is brilliant. I enjoyed your post!

    Jodie said...

    Cute cookies. Love dragees!

    Peggy said...

    I love your cookies! Although I must admit, I like chewy better than crispy when it comes to cookies. Thanks for the videos!

    Annette said...

    Your star cookies are so festive! I liked these too, although mine didn't come out as crispy as I like. I'll cook my next batch a little longer. Thanks for all of the cookie links!

    Anonymous said...

    Your star cookies looks so elegant. Lovely presentation!

    Anonymous said...

    Your 'stars on ice' are elegant, understated and lovely!! Inspiring even!

    PheMom said...

    Your cookies look so great! Thanks for all the decorating links and ideas.

    Anonymous said...

    Awww, I actually like that last commercial. Nice stars! Gotta love some cookies with a little bling.

    Megan said...

    I love Alton Brown's show - he always cracks me up.

    I went the simple route too, just rolled the log into colored sugar and did the slice and bake routine.

    Audrey said...

    Me too! Thanks for sharing the ideas. I'm lucky that I found a go-to recipe that tastes really good, so it doesn't matter that mine are always and only decorated with a sprinkle of colored sugar.

    Calypso said...

    Thanks for posting both recipes - I actually tried the second one, and after serious refrigeration (which is exactly what the recipe says to do) they worked out great!

    Tammy said...

    that is a great video! Your cookies look great too

    Di said...

    Your cookies look delicious. I have that Good Eats episode on DVD (thanks to my husband), but I haven't watched it in quite a while. I might have to pull it out this weekend.

    ostwestwind said...

    I normally hate decorating cookies, but your ideas make me changing my mind. Great, just great.

    Thanks for joining TWD and baking with me

    Ulrike from Küchenlatein