There are untold numbers of sugar cookie recipes circulating throughout the Midwest. As students of this sweet know, lard makes for a particularly toothsome cookie, with a texture at once crisp and sandy. For a cookie that is crisp but also chewy, vegetable shortening is best.
Ingredients
Makes about 32 cookies
Step 1
In a large bowl stir together the lard or shortening, the butter, 1 cup of the sugar, the egg, and the vanilla. Into the bowl sift together the flour, the baking soda, and the salt and stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Chill the dough, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Step 2
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll rounded tablespoons of the dough into balls, roll the balls in the additional sugar, coating them completely, and arrange them 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in the sugar (the edges will crack slightly) and bake the cookies in batches in the middle of the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, or until they are pale golden. Transfer the cookies to racks and let them cool. The cookies keep in an airtight container for 1 week.
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Reviews (94)
Back to TopAfter reading previous reviews, I used half the baking soda indicated, a quarter of the salt, and twice the vanilla, and the result was perfect - a classic sugar cookie with a lovely texture and flavor. I'll definitely be making these again.
Mukkima
Louisville, KY
1/8/2015
Very very salty. This recipe is an epic fail. Please take this recipe off this site so that others do not follow it and are just as much disappointed as i am.
Anonymous
CA
12/18/2011
I wish I had read the reviews before I made these cookies. There is too much baking soda and salt in these cookies. I also had a hard time rolling them out, but they did fine rolling rounded tablespoons.
Anonymous
Virginia
7/27/2011
Very good! I used shortening, and rolled out the chilled dough, used cookie cutters, then froze the cookies for about 15 mins to keep them from spreading out while baking. Tasted great, doubled the vanilla and it gave a great flavor.
Sophiestuff
portland
5/2/2011
Followed the recipe as written. Came out too salty. Can also see why others indicate to cut down on the baking soda. Dough was dry and crumbly and hard to work with.
wholelotta
1/23/2011
While these cookies taste good when made as written, this is definitely not a cutout cookie dough. I made this dough to make snowflake cookies, and, with al of the baking soda, they puffed out and my snowflakes ended up looking like fat flowers; all the detail of the snowflakes was lost. Additionally, the dough was dry and crumbly and very difficult to work with. I would go for a different sugar cookie recipe next time.
aallen
Las Vegas, NV
12/12/2010
I think this is a decent sugar cookie recipe, assuming you read the reviews beforehand. I reduced the baking soda to 1.5 teaspoons, and just used a dash of salt. I can't imagine that the recipe would need anymore than that. my cookies came out of the oven golden brown on the edges and chewy in the middle. I also think that this is a great cookie recipe to use if you plan to decorate with frosting, as the cookie itself is not overwhelmingly sweet (for a sugar cookie!). The dough takes no time to prepare, so I think I would make these again.
leahjack
11/4/2010
This is my all time favorite sugar cookie recipe. Easy! I also cut back the soda to 1 t. No other changes necessary.
Anonymous
Boulder, Colorado
10/22/2010
This recipe is simple to make but taste is only okay in my opinion. I used butter instead of shortening and cut baking soda in half per other reviewers recs. I thought they still tasted salty/of baking soda. I scooped tablespoonsof dough, rolled into ball, rolled in sugar and mashed with bottom of a glass. That works fine and speeds up process although I'm sure cutouts could be more festive. Overall, I think there are better recipes and would probably not make this one again.
Anonymous
Montana
4/11/2010
Ditto on cutting the baking soda. I did like this recipe b/c it was easy for my 4 year old to do most of it. I didn't roll any. I had my daughter scoop balls with a tablespoon and mash it with a glass. She loved it.
Anonymous
Upstate NY
5/12/2009
This was only ok. They were easy to make, but the dough was really sticky when I laid it out to roll. I had to add a ton of flour just to roll it out so it wouldnt stick. Unfortunately, since I had to add so much flour, the finished cookies taste too much like flour. I decorated the cookies with frosting and even that couldnt hide the flour-y taste of these cookies. Will be looking for a new sugar cookie recipe to use instead of this one.
grdpxjmpr
Carmichael, CA
2/13/2009
not good. we used lard but very salty, i wish we read the reviews first :(
Anonymous
Queens, NYC
12/25/2008
Great classic cookie. Everyone raved about them. As other's have suggested after first following the directions exactly, I made a second batch using less baking soda, 1 1/2 v 2 tsp... less is best. These are easy and for the holidays are easily made festive with the use of colored sugar.
Anonymous
San Diego, CA
12/23/2008
我一直在做这些thi以来每一个圣诞s recipe came out in 1993 (as well as Easter and St Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day and any other holiday where you can make a themed sugar cookie). It's the best one I've found and depending upon how thin you roll them (and I roll them paper thin) you can get a ton of cookies. I use butter instead of shortening because I like the taste and texture of butter. But if you are making intricate cut out cookies, then definitely use shortening or a combination of butter and shortening so that the cookies stay hearty.
Anonymous
8/18/2008
I used lard (because I can't find vegetable shortening here in Eastern Europe). The cookies are ok, but hard as a rock. I won't be doing it the same next time.
Kacee_ballew
1/27/2008
