These basic roll out sugar cookies are always a hit. We make them at all of the holidays and have them for classroom celebrations. I have had a blind taste with this cookie up against the local bakery and 6 out of 8 family members preferred the taste of these. (Yes, I really did blind fold them, and no, I am still not speaking to the other 2 family members) To make life a bit less hectic, I roll the dough out in Ziploc bags and freeze for up to a month before the holidays. I take it out of the freezer and put into the fridge the night before I need them. Then simply roll and cut out shapes.
Roll-Out Sugar Cookies
These basic roll out sugar cookies are always a hit. We make them at all of the holidays and have them for classroom celebrations. I have had a blind taste with this cookie up against the local bakery and 6 out of 8 family members preferred the taste of these. (Yes, I really did blind fold them, and no, I am still not speaking to the other 2 family members) To make life a bit less hectic, I roll the dough out in Ziploc bags and freeze for up to a month before the holidays. I take it out of the freezer and put into the fridge the night before I need them. Then simply roll and cut out shapes.
Nutrition
Ingredients
Method
- In a medium sized bowl, combine wheat starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and pudding mix, set aside.
- In the bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, and shortening. Mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. Add the egg, water and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture forms a dough.
- Divide the dough in half, placing each half in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. With the top unsealed, lightly roll the dough with a rolling pin to 1 inch thick. Refrigerate until they begin to firm up, 20 to 30 minutes. (Can be refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen up to a month; defrost in refrigerator before using.)
- Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out 1 dough disk to even ⅛-inch thickness between 2 large sheets parchment paper; slide rolled dough on parchment onto baking sheet and chill until firm, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, repeat with second disk.
- Using cookie cutters, cut shapes from one piece of dough and bake on parchment-lined baking sheet in 350-degree oven until light golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Remove from oven and transfer (on the parchment paper) to a rack for 5 minutes. Remove from parchment and allow to cool completely.
- Decorate with Royal Icing, if desired.
Notes
The number of cookies you get will depend on how thin you rolled out the dough and how large your cookie cutters are. This recipes makes about fifty 2 1/2 inch cookies. If the phe content is a little too high for you, replace the egg with egg replacer & replace the cream cheese with violife cream cheese and the vanilla pudding with the full package of cheesecake flavored instant pudding and reduce the sugar by ¼ cup. The cookie will be a little more fragile, so roll it to ¼ inch instead of ⅛ inch and cook an extra 2 minutes.
Reader Q&A:
Q: Can I use coconut oil in place of the Crisco? A: You can certainly try. Shortening makes a crisper cookie with less spread.
Brenda
Q: the egg in this recipe is 170mg phe, correct? so using egg replacer would take the phe per recipe down to 191mg phe. is that correct? thank you- just want to make sure A: Yes, that would be correct. Know that the cookie will be more fragile without the egg. (You can also reduce the phe by replacing the cream cheese with violife vegan cream cheese, which was not an option when this recipe was developed years ago).
Brenda
Q: If I only have cook for love baking mix can I use it?? A: Yes, but it will increase the phe/protein. Just add 1/2 of the xanthan gum listed since there is some in the baking mix already.
Q: Can I use coconut oil in place of the Crisco? A: You can certainly try. Shortening makes a crisper cookie with less spread.
Brenda
Q: the egg in this recipe is 170mg phe, correct? so using egg replacer would take the phe per recipe down to 191mg phe. is that correct? thank you- just want to make sure A: Yes, that would be correct. Know that the cookie will be more fragile without the egg. (You can also reduce the phe by replacing the cream cheese with violife vegan cream cheese, which was not an option when this recipe was developed years ago).
Brenda
Q: If I only have cook for love baking mix can I use it?? A: Yes, but it will increase the phe/protein. Just add 1/2 of the xanthan gum listed since there is some in the baking mix already.
