My Favorite Sugar Cookie

My favorite sugar recipe is a little crisp but chewy in the center. You can shape these cookies into anything, but for this post, I have used a moon cake mold that I received years ago when I was being sponsored. (2013)

This is my favorite sugar cookie. I have adapted it a little from The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Everyday. 

Ingredients:

 2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons of Hazelnut Kahlua (optional: This can be substituted with almond flavoring)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Technique:
Sift together the dry ingredients.  In an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, until well mixed then add the egg, Kahlua, and vanilla and continue mixing until light.  Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and mix until well blended.    
Wrap and chill dough for at least 30 minutes. You cannot skip this step (with the mold you must),chill the dough.  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

If not using a mold just roll out to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out as desired. Place on a greased cookie sheet or on parchment paper. Bake 6-10 minutes. The edges should be just starting to brown and the cookie have a golden color.

The cookie mold design, the holder it fits in, the rolling pin, the work surface all must be lightly floured.  All work surfaces must stay lightly floured between each cookie.   Roll out the dough to about 1/8- inch thick.  When you insert the design disk in the baking mold holder and press down, press hard with this handle I am holding onto in this picture and give it a tiny twist, like you are making biscuits.  Make sure you have gotten to the work surface with your effort.  Then push down on the spring loaded handle to make the cookie design, pressing hard.

Place your cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 6-10 minutes.  It is not recommended to get these cookies too brown.   Okay here is my first tray of cookies.  You can see that with some of the cookies I pressed hard enough to create the design and with some I didn't.  So press hard to make these cookies.  After this tray I was getting the hang of it.

Here they are right out of the oven!  Aren't they gorgeous with this design pressed in them!  I just love how they turned out!  With this recipe they are crispy on the edges and soft in the center a great texture in a sugar cookie. 

All you need is a cup of tea and your set! 

In Victory,

Sherry