Friday July 25, 2008
ym.com > style > do it yourself
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Sugar Cookies
What you need:
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2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
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1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
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1/2 cup white sugar
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1 large egg
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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2 mixing bowls
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a few cookie sheets
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plastic wrap or sandwich bags
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a rolling pin
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cookie cutters (optional)
Not So Sweet Hearts...
Why should couples get all the treats on Valentine's Day? After being subjected to grotesque PDAs at every turn, it's your single friends who really deserve a cookie and a laugh.
If you're a dynamo in the kitchen, by all means whip up your favorite recipe, or try the super-easy one I used (below). But if the idea of baking scares the bejesus out of you, fear not. You can totally use bakery cookies or frozen dough. Hint: Cookies that are at least the size of your palm will be easier to decorate.
Using a knife, spread a thin base of store-bought frosting onto a cookie. (If you baked, make sure they're cool first.) Can't find the color you want? Try mixing a few drops of food coloring into white frosting. Now, pick a tube of frosting in a contrasting color (also from the grocery store) for letters and borders. Piping it on yourself with a pastry bag (a big, cone-shaped tube with detachable plastic tips) or a sandwich bag with a hole poked in one corner will give you more control, but it's tricky at first. Fill the bag halfway and twist the big end shut between your thumb and your forefinger. Keep twisting the end as you write, so it comes out like toothpaste. Practice on a paper towel until you get the hang of it.
What you do with it: In one bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and using a rubber spatula or spoon, mix well to combine all the ingredients. (No one wants to bite into a clump of salt, so this is important.) Set aside.
Unwrap the butter and cut it into small pieces (about 1/2-inch cubes) to make it easier to blend. Soft butter also makes mixing less work, so you can microwave it for a few seconds if you want. (This is especially helpful if you're stirring by hand instead of using an electric mixer.)
Put the butter in your other mixing bowl, along with the egg, brown and white sugar, and vanilla. Using either an electric mixer or a big spoon, mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Then, a half-cup at a time, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring to blend after each scoop.
Once all of the flour mixture has been blended in, divide the dough into four equal pieces. Wrap each one in plastic or put into individual sandwich bags. The dough has to go into the refrigerator to chill for at least two hours (and up to 24 hours) before you can roll it out.
When the dough is ready, put the oven rack in the center position and preheat oven to 350&#deg;F. Sprinkle a cutting board or other flat surface with 2-3 tablespoons of flour. Take one packet of chilled dough at a time and, using a rolling pin (or a big two-liter bottle of soda, a wine bottle, or any other clean, cylindrical object your folks say is okay), flatten it to about 1/4-inch thick. Using cookie cutters or a knife, cut the shapes you want out of the dough and place them on a baking sheet that has been greased lightly with butter. Cook until light brown, about 11 minutes, and then let cool on the sheet 3-5 minutes after removing from the oven. Hot cookies are very fragile and can break easily. Gently transfer them to a baking rack or a torn-open brown paper bag to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.
Once they're at room temperature, the cookies are ready to frost.
