Like a cross between basic sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, these brown sugar cut-out cookies are made with butter, darkish brown sugar, and a contact of cozy spices. Good for the vacations or anytime you crave sugar cookies with a bit additional taste! Make them any form you want and have enjoyable adorning along with your alternative of icing.
Name them a compromise cookie. Possibly you wish to adorn Christmas cookies, however you’ll be able to’t determine between making sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, and solely have the time/vitality/components to make only one…
…or possibly you like the festive spiced taste of gingerbread cookies however can’t discover molasses the place you reside…
…or possibly you like sugar cookies, however crave one thing with a bit extra taste…
Meet the answer that’s certain to please everybody: brown sugar cut-out cookies.
(Now, deciding whether or not to prime them with royal icing, straightforward glaze icing, or cookie adorning buttercream… you’re by yourself for that one!)
Brown Sugar Reduce-Out Cookies Recipe Snapshot
- Texture: These cookies have tender, thick facilities with barely crisp edges, similar to basic sugar cookies and Christmas sugar cookies.
- Taste: Buttery and candy with comforting brown sugar and comfy spice flavors. When you desire a plain brown sugar cookie, you’ll be able to omit the spices.
- Ease: When you’ve got an electrical mixer and a rolling pin, you’ll be able to positively make these cookies.
- Time: This dough wants to sit back for at the very least 1–2 hours, however the time it takes to make the dough and bake the cookies is fairly brief. The way you determine to embellish the cookies will account for including roughly time.
Key Elements You Want
- Brown Sugar: Like these pecan sugar cookies, utilizing all brown sugar rather than white sugar provides these cookies a deeper, extra complicated taste. I like to recommend darkish brown sugar right here for essentially the most taste, however mild brown sugar is ok if that’s all you will have.
- Spice: Cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg are the flavour energy gamers right here. If you wish to maintain these cookies as plain brown sugar cookies, you’ll be able to merely omit the spices.
- All the pieces Good: You additionally want flour, baking powder, butter, an egg, salt, and vanilla extract. Cookie baking fundamentals!
Right here’s the lineup:
Maintain Brown Sugar Moist
I sometimes use Domino model sugar. I’m not sponsored by or working with the model—I similar to the standard of their merchandise for baking! However even shopping for a name-brand brown sugar at a better worth level doesn’t assure the sugar can be (or keep) completely tender and moist.
To maintain brown sugar tender, retailer it in an hermetic container in a cool, dry place, like a pantry, drawer, or cabinet. I retailer my flours and sugars in these containers, and have executed so for years.
In case your brown sugar turns into arduous and crumbly, all isn’t misplaced! You possibly can soften it up once more by including one thing that absorbs moisture, reminiscent of a slice of bread or a marshmallow, to the container and letting it sit in a single day. Simply keep in mind to take away the (now-stale) bread the following day, earlier than it turns moldy.
For a extra everlasting answer, use a terracotta sugar saver. Terracotta absorbs moisture (and doesn’t go dangerous), and you should buy a brown sugar-saver bear or disc that’s particularly designed for this goal. You possibly can even purchase brown sugar storage containers that embody a terracotta piece proper within the lid, like this one. They’re actually helpful.
This brown sugar cookie dough comes collectively rapidly with an electrical mixer. As soon as all of your components are mixed, it’s time to roll out and chill the dough.
My #1 Tip for Making Reduce-Out Cookies
Roll the dough out earlier than chilling. I’ll clarify why that is so profitable. Divide the dough in half, roll out every portion, after which chill:
Most sugar cookie doughs require chilling so the cookies maintain their cookie cutter form within the oven. However if you happen to’ve ever tried rolling out chilled sugar cookie dough, you might keep in mind how troublesome it’s to flatten chilly, stiff dough. So, roll out the dough whereas it’s nonetheless tender (proper after making it), after which chill the rolled-out dough. Right here’s my actual methodology, and it really works for chocolate sugar cookies, too:
- Divide the dough in half as a result of smaller sections are simpler to roll out.
- Roll out the cookie dough instantly on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you’ll be able to simply switch it to the fridge.
- Choose the entire thing up, set it on a baking sheet, and place it within the fridge. Keep in mind, you will have 2 slabs of dough. When you don’t have sufficient room for two baking sheets in your fridge, merely stack the items of rolled-out dough on prime of one another, with parchment paper or silicone baking mat in between.
After the rolled-out dough chills for at the very least 1–2 hours, use cookie cutters to chop out shapes. Remember to re-roll the dough scraps as wanted.
The cookies are executed when the perimeters are set and the middles nonetheless look barely tender. These cookies maintain their form properly within the oven, and bake up with a pleasant flat floor that’s excellent for adorning.
Now, for everybody’s favourite half!
Adorning Brown Sugar Reduce-Out Cookies
For the cookies you see pictured right here, my crew and I used royal icing to embellish the cookies formed like reindeer, timber, sweet canes, and gingerbread folks. And we used cookie adorning buttercream to embellish the snowflake cookies.
When you’re new to adorning with royal icing, it could assist to observe my video tutorial on methods to adorn sugar cookies. I’ll stroll you thru 4 easy and approachable strategies which might be an ideal place to begin if you happen to’re new to cookie adorning. For the pictured cookies, I used Wilton piping tip #4 for outlining and flooding with icing. This can be a great primary piping tip to have in your assortment.
I even have an straightforward cookie icing glaze you might attempt as an alternative. It takes longer to dry than royal icing, but it surely’s fast and straightforward to make, it doesn’t require piping luggage/suggestions. I exploit squeeze bottles for it! It’s great when you’ve got younger bakers keen to assist adorn.
And, after all, don’t neglect the sprinkles. When you plan to dedicate a complete day to cookie-baking, right here’s how Host a Cookie Adorning Day information. 😉
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is a part of my annual cookie countdown referred to as Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the most important, most scrumptious occasion of the 12 months! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza web page together with:
Brown Sugar Reduce-Out Cookies
Prep Time: 2 hours, half-hour
Prepare dinner Time: 12 minutes
Complete Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
Yield: 24 3-inch cookies
Class: Cookies
Technique: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
These brown sugar cut-out cookies are excellent for the vacations or anytime you crave sugar cookies with a bit additional taste. Make them any form you want and have enjoyable adorning along with your alternative of icing. The variety of cookies this recipe yields is dependent upon the scale of the cookie cutter you utilize. When you’d wish to make dozens of cookies for a big crowd, double the recipe.
Directions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and salt collectively in a medium bowl. Put aside.
- In a big bowl utilizing a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar collectively on excessive velocity till fully easy and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat on excessive velocity till mixed, about 1 minute. Scrape down the perimeters and backside of the bowl and beat once more as wanted to mix.
- Add the dry components to the moist components and blend on low velocity till mixed. Dough can be a bit tender. If the dough appears too tender and sticky for rolling, add extra flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, beating effectively after every addition.
- Divide the dough in half. Place every portion onto a chunk of evenly floured parchment paper or a evenly floured silicone baking mat. With a evenly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use extra flour if the dough appears too sticky. The rolled-out dough will be any form, so long as it’s evenly 1/4-inch thick.
- Evenly mud one of many rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a chunk of parchment on prime. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on prime. Cowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at the very least 1–2 hours, or as much as 2 days.
- As soon as chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line giant baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Fastidiously take away the highest dough piece from the fridge. If it’s sticking to the underside, run your hand underneath it to assist take away it. Utilizing a cookie cutter, minimize the dough into shapes. Re-roll the dough scraps and proceed chopping till all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough. (Observe: It doesn’t seem to be numerous dough, however you get numerous cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Prepare cookies on baking sheets 3 inches aside. Bake for 11–12 minutes or till evenly browned across the edges. Enable cookies to chill on the baking sheet for five–10 minutes, then switch to a wire rack to chill fully earlier than adorning.
- Enhance the cooled cookies with royal icing, cookie buttercream, or straightforward cookie icing; prime with sprinkles, if utilizing. Be happy to tint any of those icings with gel meals coloring. For adorning inspiration, my Enhance Sugar Cookies tutorial is useful.
- Get pleasure from cookies immediately or wait till the icing units to serve them. Plain or embellished cookies keep tender for about 5 days when coated tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cowl and refrigerate for as much as 10 days. If embellished with cookie buttercream, cowl and retailer embellished cookies at room temperature for 1 day, or within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Directions: Plain or embellished sugar cookies freeze effectively as much as 3 months. Look forward to the icing to set fully earlier than layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw within the fridge or at room temperature. It’s also possible to freeze the cookie dough for as much as 3 months earlier than rolling it out. Put together the dough via step 3, divide in half, flatten each halves right into a disc as we do with pie crust, wrap every in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the discs within the fridge, then carry to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill rolled-out dough within the fridge for 45 minutes–1 hour earlier than chopping into shapes and baking. See this submit on methods to freeze cookie dough for a video tutorial.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Wood Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Vacation Cookie Cutter Set | Cooling Rack | Piping Luggage (Disposable or Reusable) | Couplers | Piping Ideas Set | Assorted Sprinkles (Like These or These)
- Can I Skip the Spices? Sure. If you need a plain brown sugar cookie, you’ll be able to omit the spices with no different modifications to the recipe.
- Room Temperature: Room temperature butter is important. If the dough is just too sticky, your butter might have been too tender. Room temperature butter is definitely cool to the contact. Room temperature egg is most popular so it’s rapidly and evenly combined into the cookie dough.
- Icing: Use royal icing, straightforward cookie icing, or cookie adorning buttercream. See submit above to learn in regards to the variations.
- Can I Double the Recipe? Sure. Double the entire components and divide the dough into 3 or 4 sections in step 4.
- Remember to take a look at my prime 5 cookie baking suggestions AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking instruments.
