Sugar Saucers

This is my official favorite sugar cookie. It has no frosting or royal icing; just the simple sweetness of sugar, butter, and vanilla, happily rolled in sprinkles.

 

I first saw the recipe on Lottie and Doof, and felt immediately called to make them. The first batch was inhaled in two hours by my coworkers, so I went home and made a second. I’ve never been compelled to make a second batch of the same cookies just a day later. But that’s how good, and maybe more importantly, how easy these are.

The cookies lend themselves to many sizes, from giant saucers to smaller rounds . Mine were about 2 and a half inches across, and I found that the bigger they were, the more variety there was in consistency. A larger cookie will have a crisp edge with a chewier center (aka perfection).

I made these with regular grocery store brand vanilla and butter, but my next step is to pick up some good European butter and dig out my good vanilla, to see if I can make them even better. I’m also looking forward to all the holiday opportunities these cookies provide- now I can have festive Christmas and Michigan football season cookies without having to mess with royal icing and cookie cutters. Awesome.

Sugar Saucers, from Piece of Cake: Home Baking Made Simple via Lottie and Doof

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp kosher salt

1 ½ c unsalted butter, at room temp

½ cup canola oil (I used corn oil, no issues)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 large eggs

4 tsp vanilla extract

Lots of rainbow sprinkles for decorating

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter on medium speed for two minutes. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the oil, and then add the two sugars, eggs, and vanilla, mixing well after each addition. 

Add the flour mixture slowly, a quarter of it at a time. Mix until just combined. This will be a very soft dough. Scrape it out of the bowl, and flatten it into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour, or up to three days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment, and fill a bowl with rainbow sprinkles.

To form cookies, remove a small piece of dough and roll it into a ball. You can really make the cookies any size you want, I worked with balls of dough about the size of a walnut, but you may want to go bigger or smaller. The original recipe recommends anywhere from 2 oz to 5 oz, and uses an ice cream scoop (a tool I do not own) to measure.

Using your hands, flatten balls of dough into a disk, and press them into the sprinkles.  Arrange on baking sheet, leaving room for spreading, and bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.  I found they were done when they had started to puff and crack a little, and were very slightly golden on the edges.

Enjoy!!

These cookies are really best the day they are made. Even kept airtight, they were stale after just three days.  However, you can freeze the dough or make it up to 3 days ahead with no issues.