Sugar Cookies
NOTE: This is
the simplest cookie imaginable, with the flavors of butter, sugar,
and vanilla at the fore. The edges are firm but the center is soft
and chewy. Makes about 30 cookies.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
11/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Adjust oven racks to upper-and lower-middle position. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla extract. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
3. Place remaining 1/4 cup sugar in shallow bowl. Working with 11/2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 11/2 inch balls (see figure 8). Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing balls 2 to 21/2 inches apart.
4. Butter bottom of drinking glass with flat bottom that measures about 2 inches across. Dip bottom of glass in remaining sugar and flatten balls of dough with bottom of glass until 3/8 to 1/2 inches thick and about 3/4 inches in diameter (see figure 9). Dip bottom of glass into sugar every two or three cookies.
5. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking time, until edges of cookies are pale golden, 10 to 11 minutes. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack with wide spatula.
VARIATIONS:
Sugar Cookies with Ginger
Follow Master Recipe, whisking 1 teaspoon ground ginger with dry ingredients. Stir 1 tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger into finished dough.
Sugar Cookies with Lime Zest
Follow Master Recipe, adding 1 teaspoon grated lime zest along with eggs. Place 1/4 cup sugar for coating dough in step 3 in food processor. Add 1 teaspoon grated lime zest and process until sugar becomes green and zest is evenly distributed, about 10 seconds. Roll dough balls in lime sugar, gently shaking off excess.