Sour Cream Cut Out Cookies
One of the best soft sugar cookies I ever made, these are soft, tender but keep their shape if you want to decorate them! The dough is easy to work with so it's the perfect cookie project to do with kids. Make them ahead and keep them frozen to eat or decorate later.
Servings 25 medium
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- ¾ cup 150g granulated sugar
- ½ cup 115g butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup 120g sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
- Few drops of pure almond extract
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups 350g all-purpose or cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
For the frosting:
- 8 oz 225g regular cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup 110g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 ½ to 4 cups powdered sugar you might need to add more to achieve the thick consistency needed
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract you might want to use clear vanilla so it doesn't make the white opaque, see Notes below
- Different colors of food dyes see Notes below
Instructions
For the cookies:
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sour cream.
- Add sugar and mix until well combined. I do everything by hand but you can use an electric mixer.
- Add vanilla, almond extract and egg. Mix very well.
- Add, sifting, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Using a spatula, Integrate very well. I recommend not using a beater at this point to avoid over working the flour which results in tougher cookies.
- It must be a smooth and non-sticky dough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day. At this point it can be frozen for a month, well wrapped.
- I recommend putting it in the freezer (in addition to the refrigerator) for 15 minutes before rolling it.
- Turn the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Work with half the amount of dough at a time and keep the rest wrapped and refrigerated in the meantime.
- Lightly flour the counter and rolling pin and roll the dough about ¼ inch thick.
- Cut out cookies in the desired shapes and put on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until dry, puffy, and barely colored.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
For the frosting:
- In a bowl beat cream cheese with butter until very creamy and no lumps remain.
- Gradually add sugar and vanilla until you have a thick, very creamy consistency, good enough to spread. You might need more sugar, up to a half-cup or so.
- Divide among bowls depending on the number of different colors you want to make.
- Add a drop of food coloring at a time, mix, and see if the color it's what you like. I like to leave one white and sometimes add white coloring to make it a brighter white.
- It keeps well in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Beat again before using to attain a creamy consistency.
Notes
Food coloring: I love to use gels because they integrate easily and the colors are vibrant. Also, bright white soft gel paste for achieving a shinier white color.
Vanilla: if you want to have white as one of the frosting colors, I suggest you use clear vanilla instead of the regular dark one. Keep in mind that it's artificially flavored.
Room temperature: make sure the ingredients are at room temperature as specified in the recipe. It does make a difference in how well they integrate.
Mixing: after the flour is added the best way to mix is with a spatula. The more you mix the tougher the cookies will be. If making a very large batch you can use the paddle attachment in the stand mixer, but make sure you just mix everything until there are no flour spots. Don't over mix it!
Refrigeration: it's important to have chilled dough before rolling. I sometimes put it for 10 minutes in the freezer (after it has been in the fridge according to the recipe) before rolling it out. You don't want the dough to start softening too much while you cut out the shapes.
Variations: add a different extract, citrus zest, or even a ground spice you love for a different cookie.
